Madabhooshi Varadarajan

June 29, 2022, 10:53 am

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A Welcome Addition to the Madhava Perumal Temple's Prabhandham Ghosti

Divya Prabhandham has remained close to his heart all his life

In his 75th year, he received the Gopalopayanam award from Trithandi Jeer for his contribution to Vaishnavism

There has been some good news for the Madhava Perumal temple of late. While on one hand there is a young Commerce Post Grad joining in as a priest(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/madhava-perumal-temple-next-gen-bhattar.html), on the other there has been a welcome addition of a 75 year old Prabhandham member. 

During the Pandemic, Dr. Madabhooshi Varadarajan a revered Prabhandham Scholar hailing from the Ananthan Pillai clan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/08/ananthazhvaar-kirangur.html) moved from Thiruvallikeni to Nattu Veerachi Street in Mylapore, just next to the ancient Madhava Perumal temple. With the reopening of the temple after wave 2 and the resumption of utsavams, he has become an integral part of the Prabhandham Ghosti at the temple and was seen through the Brahmotsavam this year in Chitrai.

Varadarajan’s father performed several decades of Madapalli service at the Govindarajan Perumal temple in Tirupathi and was particularly known for making quality dosais, 

After completing his SSLC at the Hindu High School, Thiruvallikeni, he moved to Tirupathi where he resided for almost five decades including as the Tamil Professor at the Venkateswara University for 15years. He has presented Kalakshepams on nine Granthas and also written a commentary on Aditya Hridayam in four languages. He has thus far written 76 books. 

Great Liking for the Divya Prabhandham

As a young boy, he learned the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham from his grandfather. Later on in life, he anchored a three year Project studying Azhvaars’ Hymns in the 108 Divya Desams. For this, he travelled the length and breadth of the country and presented 400 pages on the recital of the sacred verses in the Divya Desams. He found that only in one third of these temples the sacred verses were recited every day.

For over two decades, he was the PA to the Vice Chancellor, a phase when he managed to be closely associated with the Divya Prabhandham and the spreading of its glory.

His special attachment towards Nalayira Divya Prabhandham led to him being engaged as a Director of a two-year UGC Research Project titled Upanishadic Thoughts in Tiruvoimozhi classifying 616 Upanishadic Quotations employed by Nampillai.

Continuing his liking for the sacred verses of the Azhvaars, his Doctorate too was a thesis analyzing and dissecting from different angles the Panneer Aayira Padi, a 12000 word commentary on Tiruvoimozhi. He published 10 volumes of Paneeraayira Padi comprising of 2200pages

Three decades ago, he led the first national seminar on Nalayira Divya Prabhandham.

Gopalopayanam award

Earlier this year, Varadarajan, who holds a double MA (Political Science and Tamil) was anointed with the Gopalopayanam award by Trithandi Chinnna Jeer Swamy for his contribution to spreading the Vaishnavite philosophy among the masses over several decades. 

He will turn 75 soon but his commitment to the sacred verses of the Azhvaars has not diminished one bit over the last decade. While in Thiruvallikeni, he was a regular at the Prabhandham Ghosti. The move to Mylapore makes him a great addition to the small Prabhandham team at the Madhava Perumal team. He has also initiated his son, an IT staffer, into the Divya Prabhandham as well into Kalakshepams to help continue the tradition into the next gen.

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Kapali V Ramkumar World Bank to Sanyasam

July 4, 2022, 6:53 am

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IIT Post Grad and World Bank Consultant takes to Sanyasam and a Devotional Life in Service to people

He has handed 1000s of Rudraksha Maalai and Devotional Books to the next gen at the Kapali Temple 

In 2018, this section had featured a story on a crorepathi IT professional from Karappankadu quitting a high paying job in a MNC in his 40s and moving to the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam transforming the madapalli there (Srirangam Madapalli). A year or so later, he quit the service in the madapalli and took to Sansayam and now lay stationed at the Ananthazhvaan Avatharam Sthalam in Kirangur (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/01/srirangam-madapalli-fame-lakshmi.html). In March last year, this section featured a story on a long standing Kapali devotee who quit a high paying corporate job and moved into a dozen years of silence (Vilvam Anna Vasudevan).

This one is a story of a World Bank Consultant from Mannargudi with multiple academic degrees giving up corporate life, once again in his 40s and taking Sansyasam dedicating his life to Kapaleeswarar of Mylapore.

V Ramkumar (Vaidyanathan Subramanian) was outstanding in academics and was a topper in Biology at DAV Gopalapuram. He also took to Tamil all through his years at school. When his father (he retired as AGM at Parrys) was transferred to Trichy, he had a great experience with Ranganathaswamy of Srirangam. Since then, he has returned to Srirangam several times for a darshan of the Lord especially at the Era Pathu Utsavam. By the time he was into class III, he was full time into Bhajans and lighting 108 lamps at the temple. Even as a school boy in Trichy, he cleaned and swept the local temple before the priest arrived.

Every summer, he went back to his village in the 1970s and 80s and was associated in farming, accounts work, knotting flowers and every traditional activity in his native village.

His grandparents hailed from Sithambur village off the Mannargudi Tiruvarur highway. They were traditionalists of the highest order and followed aachaaram till the very end. His grandfather was a Mirasdaar in the village and it had become a traditional practice for his grandmother to feed all visitors to the village. "Feeding 100s of people was a normal occurrence at home and we took delight in serving people" says Ramkumar of his memories from the 1970s. 

He points out an example showcasing the traditional values of his grandparents “When the Government allocated money for steps to be built in a local temple tank, my grandfather refused as he believed that the cows would not be able to walk down the steps such was his respect for the sacred animal.”

His grandfather was a freedom fighter and had walked with Rajaji to Vedaranyam. Till independence, he did not get his son to join an English school!!!

Lets go 'Medicine' Dream, a M. Tech at IIT Bombay

Ramkumar wanted to take to medicine but the cost of studying medicine was exorbitant and he had to let go of his first dream to serve the society. His father suggested him to take to chemistry at Vivekananda College. It was a great experience where he also learned Sanskrit.  "The teachers at Vivekananda including Dr. Sundaram were simply outstanding. In addition to the core subjects, they also initiated us into the importance of a traditional way of life."

He went on to pursue his Masters in Chemistry at IIT Madras, M. Tech in IIT Bombay and then also did a MBA in International business at Symbiosis Pune.

A highly devoted teenager

Alongside all his academic pursuits, he was quietly following a devotional way of life that was far beyond his age. He began his Veda Adyayanam under Pattukottai Srinivasa Sastrigal. Later he was initiated into further Vedic learning by Sripatha Ganapadigal near Rajamundry. From Thiruvenkadu Muthuswamy Sastrigal, he learned Shanmada Upasanai and advanced Sanskrit. When his grandfather passed away in 1989, Ramkumar took up the Panchayathana Pooja that had been done previously for centuries. He was just in his teens and his devotional move at such a young age took everyone in the family by surprise.

Rathnagireeswarar – A big early influence

At 17, he was sitting alongside Octogenarians at the Rathnagireeswarar temple as part of the Veda Ghosti. For about five years in that phase, he attended every programme at the temple managing academics by the side. A year later at 18, he received Mantropadesam from Mayura Vaidyanathan Iyer. He was told later that when he was just 1 year old, he had received the blessing of Maha Periyava who sent him to Bhuvaneswari Swamigal. “The teachings of Bhuvaneswari Swamigal molded me.”

He clearly was assigned to be a one of a kind multi faceted personality, for he was also trained in carnatic music by Vaigal Gnana Skanda including in Tamil Kritis. The guru also taught him Sastras. He learned Bharatanatyam, the Veena, was involved in enacting in dramas and drew large Rangolis.

The early bonding with Kapali

As a teenager he had once been to Mylapore but did not visit Kapaleeswarar temple. His amma had studied at Lady Sivasamy School and was an ardent devotee of Kapali. “When I reached home and told my amma that I had been to Mylapore she gave me a message that has stayed all through my life – If you step foot in Mylapore, do not return without spending a few minutes inside the Kapali and Ambal Sannidhi.”

That moment created a special devotional bonding with the Kapali temple and he has remained a lifetime devotee of the divine couple. Academics and Temples were the only part of his life in his first 25years. He had never missed the annual utsavam in Panguni at Kapali. 

Surprisingly, he was also very close to the previous jeer of the Ahobila Mutt who he met when he was just 20 years old. “The Jeer spent 1.5 hours with me at the Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiru Ananthapuram, something that I could never have visualized to happen in my life. He looked at me as his own son.”

No Marriage, Assigned for larger devotional cause

Even as a young teenager he had decided that family life  was not for him for he was destined for larger things in life. Though his parents tried to convince him on that path, an invisible voice had impressed upon him that a devotional way of life was the way forward for him. ”From Dakshina Murthy at Marudeeswarar Koil, I received a message that I was not destined for family life and that I had been assigned for a larger devotional cause.”

Biggest Influence - Tiruppan Azhvaar's  True Devotion

He has been a voracious reader all his life with a large collection of over 50000 books.  The life of Thiruppaan Azhvaar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/03/thirupaanazhvaar.html), who sang 10 verses of praise on the Lord of Srirangam, had the biggest influence on him and taught him what real devotion was and how one should engage with God. 

Into Corporate Life in Singapore and the Middle East

For over a decade after the completion of his Masters, he pursued a full fledged corporate life with a long stint in Singapore in a MNC in shipping and logistics business. Subsequently, he moved into a US based Software group and completed his corporate work as an employee with a Dubai based real estate and property developer. Very early in his life, he learned to cook under amma’s training and has managed his own food almost all his life.

Corporate job to Management Consultancy

He had not touched 40 when he decided that he had had enough with a full time job in a corporate and became a Management Consultant just under 15years ago. His appa had passed away a few years earlier and he wanted to spend time with his amma with whom he had been very close from his childhood "She had taught me all the traditional values and initiated me into a devotional way of life."

His wide ranging experience in multiple sectors meant that consultant projects came his way. Over the many years, he has been a Consultant to the World Bank for their overseas projects in South America and South Africa. In recent years, he has given up almost everything and is currently in the final phase of his projects with World Bank. In the period of his consultancy with the World Bank, he has written feasibility reports, tender reports and been involved in tender evaluation. He has also provided advice on development of Investment Zones, Gated Community and Agri Zones. “While it was an enjoyable experience, my mind has almost completely moved away from the Corporate life into devotional service.”

Sanyasam into his 40s

With the passing away of his amma in the middle of the previous decade, he decided to take to Sansayam with the blessings of Thirumalai Tirupathi Jeer, an interesting one for an Advaita. Following his Sanyasam six years ago, he was asked to refer to himself as Brahmananda Avadhootha Swami. To this day, he follows every aacharam including Trikala Sandhyavandanam. The Tirumala Tirupathi Jeer while blessing him on his taking to Sanyasam asked him to perform Kainkaryam.

Kainkaryam at Kapali Temple

In the last decade or so, he has been a great influence on the devotees of Kapali, a service initiated into him by Seshadri Swamigal at Tiruvannamalai. He has presented over 1000 of them with Rudraksha Maalai sourced exclusively from Nepal. He did not want them to just wear the Maalai and also wanted them to chant the Shiva Nama. This led him to publishing books in praise of the Lord that he has handed to all these devotees. As part of his devotional service and creating a calming influence in the devotees, he has also handed out Shiva Lingams sourced from Narmada to devotees. In addition, he has also presented Saligramams and conches in big numbers to devotees at Kapali.

For a large part of his life, he has been blessed with a Kainkaryam during the first kaala pooja at Kasi Viswanathar temple. At the Vaitheeswaran Koil, he was instrumental in revival of some of the utsavams a couple of decades ago, at a time when they had come to a halt.A trip to Gaya during the Pandemic got him closer to God for he was all alone with the deity in that phase.

Panguni 2022 - Senkol and Thee Pantham at Kapali 

He dedicates the crystallizing of his Brahmanandam at 50 almost entirely to Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal. The last 7 years of every evening at Kapali, he says, has been the best period of his life particularly this year when in the space of a month he had the blessings to be assigned with two sacred kainkaryams “During the Panguni Utsavam, I carried the Senkol and from the fifth day of the utsavam, the Thee Pandham. During the entire 28 day Vasantha Utsavam, I carried the Thee Pandham. It was a memorable devotional experience.”

While he has been devotional right from his childhood, Ramkumar is in a completely different frame of mind. For the hundreds of devotees at the Kapaleeswarar temple, Ramkumar provides positive vibration every evening at the Artha Jaama Pooja.

Sanyasam, he says, is a state of mind “Contentment, No desires, control of the mind, no importance to external appearances, simplicity in attire, calming down of the mind, mixing with devotees, spreading positive dharmic messages and praying for the well being of all are integral part of this phase.” 

He says that God has assigned him on this “He provides the pen and the ink. I am only a tool”.

Pullam Bhoothangudi Athanur Mei Kavalars

July 5, 2022, 9:47 am

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Two Mei Kavalar families have been performing selfless service in remote Divya Desams near Kumbakonam for decades but have remained financially challenged

Pullam Bhoothangudi Divya Desam is a temple whose tale relates to the legendary episode of Jatayu Moksham from the Ramayana. Praised in the Periya Thirumozhi by Thiru Mangai Azhvaar as a well laid out city with huge Mansions and Mandapams (much in contrast to what it is now), Pullam Bhoothangudi was home to scores of Vedic Seers who in their chants through the day spread the message of forgiveness and patience as part of one’s lives. 

While several other Divya Desams have flourished because of the infrastructural development and ease of access, Pullam Bhoothangudi, administered by the Ahobilam Mutt, has been off the radar and been a rather quiet Divya Desam without too much of a devotee crowd. For several decades, till the end of the 20th Century, there was no access to this Divya Desam in a sad contrast to having been a ‘Well Laid Out City’ with mansions during Thiru Mangai Azhvaar’s period. Right through the previous century, one had to weed through the green fields North of Swami Malai to reach this temple. And later, a small one way mud road from Swami Malai had been the only improvement in terms of access to this temple.

மறையால்  முத்தீ அவை வளர்க்கும் 

மன்னு  புகழால் வண்மையால்  

பொறையால் மிக்க அந்தணர் வாழ் 

புள்ளம் பூதங்குடி தானே 

Thiru Mangai Azhvaaar describes the scene around the temple during his time over 1000 years ago in these ten verses at the beginning of the fifth canto.

நறிய மலர்மேல் சுரும்பு ஆர்க்க 

எழில் ஆர் மஞ்சை நடம் ஆட 

பொறி கொள் சிறை வண்டு இசை பாடும்

புள்ளம் பூதங்குடி தானே 

The temple was amidst huge groves where bees provided sweet musical tunes to the dancing peacocks, Pullam Bhoothangudi, where Lord Rama is seen in a Bala Sayana Posture, was a place with huge water tanks and wet fields in which fish fell prey to the birds that then took their prized scalp to feed their young ones.

பள்ளச் செருவில் கயல் உகள 

பழனிக் கழனி அதனுள் போய் 

புள்ளுப் பிள்ளைக்கு இறை தேடும் 

புள்ளம் பூதங்குடி தானே 

There were huge coconut groves and coconuts constantly fell from the trees (that is one commonality that existed till the end of the last century as seen in the story below). The scared fish jumped in and out of water and water birds kept flying away. He also praises the place as being home to Vedic Seers who constantly chanted the Vedas trying to understand its inner meaning.

கா ஆர் தெங்கின் பழம் வீழ 

கயல்கள் பாய, குருகு இரியும் 

பூ ஆர் கழனி எழில் ஆரும் 

The temple was surrounded with beautiful red lotuses that seemed to bloom all through the year in the water tanks, where one also found bees drinking nectar and humming sweet tunes. He makes a specific reference to Punnai Trees that sprinkled golden turmeric like pollen. Water, he says, gushed from the Cauvery with gems being washed ashore on to the banks in Pullam Bhoothangudi. 

While Thiru Mangai Azhvaar has praised the place in such glory, when infrastructure development happened over the last century, Pullam Bhoothangudi as well as Athanur Divya Desam , a couple of kms East have remained sidelined and come to be classified as a ‘remote temple’ among Divya Desams. 

Mei Kavalar family

39 year old Saravanan has been Mei Kavalar at the Valvil Ramar Divya Desam in Pullam Bhoothangudi near Kumbakonam for the last 5 years following in the footsteps of his father Narayanaswamy Naidu who had performed Kainkaryam at this remote temple for two decades. His Grandfather too had served as Mei Kavalar for decades at Athanur Divya Desam in the 20th Century. 

At Rs.2500 per month, it has not easy to make both ends meet, financially. He comes to the temple every morning at 6.30am and stays through till 12.30pm. And then he comes back in the evening and heads back home only after 8pm. Even on days when the priest has been away for a few hours, its the trusted Mei Kavalar Saravanan who manages the devotees taking them around the temple.

Contact Saravanan Mei Kavalar @ 95662 61138

Similar Story in Thiru Athanur

Thiru Mangai Azhvaar in the Periya Thiru Madal refers to the Lord of Athanur as one who measures time – The yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

அன்னவனை ஆதனூர் ஆண்டு அளக்கும் ஐயனை

நென்னலை இன்றினை நாளையை

The Mei Kavalar there too has been counting on the prospect of 'Good Time' but that has seemed an endless wait. With absolutely no access to Athanur from Swami Malai in the century gone by and no transport facilities, one had to walk all the way across the fields or take a bullock cart ride through the pits from Swami Malai.  Rarely would a devotee turn up at the temple in the decades gone by. Despite these, Brahmotsavam was performed in a grand way with the local residents playing the role of Sri Patham Thangis and carrying the Lord around on Vahana Processions across the streets of Athanur. 

A sincere Mei Kavalar at Athanur too

Over the last 15 years, Mei Kavalar Balakrishnan (Balu) has been opening the main door at 630am to stay on till 12.30pm. He comes back again at 4pm and stays on till 730pm in the evening. With better roads and slightly improved bus services,  the devotee crowd has increased over the last decade but still its nowhere like the temples in the main town of Kumbakonam and other bigger towns and cities. One has to still keep the temple open and wonder if a devotee will turn up on a week day. Here too he is the one who manages the devotees when the bhattar is away from the temple. His finances are no different from that of the Pullam Bhoothangudi Mei Kavalar. 

With his devotional attachment to the temple, he has also doubled up as a garland maker and knots flower garland every day for the Lord in addition to the security services for which he is paid an extra 500 per month by the Ahobila Mutt. 

Contact: Balu Mei Kavalar @ 9659238848

Veera Bhadrar Temple Mylapore Bala Gurukal

July 6, 2022, 1:08 am

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Three Decades of unflinching service at the Mylapore Temple

His liking for decorating the Lord in different Thiru Kolams has led him to create the next gen of alankaram specialists in Mylapore

In the 1990s, he picked up names of Veera Bhadrar from the tele directory and sent postal letters to them in the hope that this temple would be the Kula Deivam for some of them

Throughout his schooling days at PS Sec School, Bala Gurukal would sit alongside Kumar Gurukal and watch his alankaram. By the time he completed class X, his mind was away from academics and into temple service.  He joined Kumar Gurukal at the Veera Bhadrar temple in the early 1990s. There were no utsavams at the time, no money to light lamps, very minimal thattu kaasu and no salary. Kumar Gurukal performed pooja in 17 temples in Mylapore and Bala Gurukal joined him in support in all these temples.

Early attachment with the temple

He lived right opposite the temple and became very devotionally attached to the Veera Bhadrar “There were no big garlands in those days, three decades ago. If a devotee presented a simple flower, I would cut it into many pieces and adorn each Lord in the temple with at least one small piece of a flower.”

Having apprenticed under Kumar Gurukal, he had learned the nuances of alankaram and over time became an expert in Alankarams. “Kumar Gurukal’s alankaram of Kola Villi Amman was special. For a sitting amman, he would present a ‘standing posture’ alankaram.”

Turns to the tele directory in search of devotees

In the 1990s, he took to the BSNL telephone directory and picked up all the names with Veera Bhadrar and sent postal letters to them “I had hoped that for at least some of them this would be Kula Deivam and that they would visit the temple.”

Much to his surprise, many turned up at the temple and have become lifetime devotees of Veera Bhadrar. There was no salary at the temple and hence he made both ends meet through the alankarams he presented in the Mylapore temples. 

Panguni Brahmotsavam

At the turn of the century, he started the Panguni Brahmotsavam after renovation of the temple. For the Brahmotsavam he built new vahanas “I would got and sit with the sculptor for 1 ½ months without food and sleep to get right even the minute details of the vahana. It was a financially challenging phase and my spending all the time in temple work did not go down well with the family.”

During the Pandemic, he was instrumental in the new Velli Rishabham and Velli Adikara Nandi, both of which were seen at the Brahmotsavam last year. On the third day of the Panguni Utsavam, Veera Bhadrar provides darshan in a Daksha Vahanam. 

Creating the Next Gen Alankaram specialists

With an intention to not keep the decorative work all to himself, he created the next gen of alankaram specialists in Mylapore temples, one of whom interestingly is the son of the owner of the popular Maamis Mess and they have now taken over from him.

While Veera Bhadrar is usually seen in a raging aghora Kolam, here at the Mylapore temple he provides darshan in a Kalyana kolam. He is believed to have provided darshan to Dakshan in a Kalyana Kolam on Panguni Uthiram day.  Abhaya Ambal is seen with a bow, arrow and knife. 

Vishnu and Shiva Joint procession

On the two Pradosham days in Puratasi, Vishnu on a Garuda Vahanam and Veera Bhadrar in Rishabam provide joint darshan.

Veera Bhadrar in Aghora Kolam, Ambal as Kaali

On the Maattu Pongal day every year, Veera Bhadrar is seen in a Aghora Kolam with a Moustache with Ambal adorning the Kaali Alankaram.

Maangani Vizha- Aani Pournami

On the occasion of Aani Pournami (July 13), Veera Bhadrar will be anointed with a three fruit decoration - Mangoes, Jack Fruit and Bananas. The Moolavar deity will be decorated with Beetal leaves – Vettrilai Alankaram.  It is the day when Lord Shiva disguised himself as Bikshandar and asked for food at Karaikkal Ammayar’s house. She handed him one of the two mangoes that her husband given her that day. When the husband after consuming one mango asked for the other, she invoked the blessings of Bikshandar who in a magical moment presented her with the second mango as well. 

Devotees will be able to have darshan of Veera Bhadrar in Bikshandar Kolam in the three fruit alankaram between 6pm and 8pm that evening.

Bala Gurukal has also revived the Vasantha Utsavam with a one day celebration on the Pournami day in Chitrai. Manickavachakar Utsavam is celebrated in a grand way with vahana processions.

A Devotionally fulfilling three decades

At 46, Bala Gurukal has had three devotionally enjoyable decades at the Veera Bhadrar temple almost single handedly anchoring the revival of the temple and the utsavams. He has had an official appointment as Paricharakar at a salary of Rs. 375 but those like him are unmindful of the financial returns. Even as a teenager his mind had become devotionally attached to Veera Bhadrar. For over two decades, Bala Gurukal has been the go to man for alankaram in all Saivite temples in Mylapore except Kapali and Velleeswarar.  In addition to creating the next generation of alankaram specialists, he is also initiating his teenage son into alankarams. But given the financially challenges he has had to face in the decades gone by, he is not sure if his son would join temple service. For now, Bala Gurukal is happy to have created a devotional interest in Veera Bhadrar in a large number of devotees who have now become regulars at the temple. With his devotional interest, he has also earned a name for himself in the Mylapore temples as the alankaram specialist. And he takes a lot of satisfaction out of that.

The several centuries old Veera Bhadrar Swamy Temple is located just in Thyagarajapuram, Mylapore just next to Madhava Perumal temple. The temple is open from 7am to 11am and 4.30pm to 8pm. Contact Bala Gurukal @ 74011 40355.

MLM Lakshmanan Ambassador Mark IV 1984

July 8, 2022, 12:52 am

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Tuticorin Salt Businessman is well into his 70s and now has a wide range of modern cars in his portfolio but the Mark IV Ambassador of 1984 remains his favourite and continues to run on the streets of Mylapore

While his kids, relatives and friends have anointed him with the 'Old Fashioned' Tag, he has derived the greatest driving pleasure from the Amby and is unwilling to let it go

On the last day of December 1984, MLM Lakshmanan Chettiar, a Salt Manufacturer from Tuticorin took the decision to buy a Mark IV Dow Grey Ambassador. Almost four decades later after the rugged Ambi has run 5Lakh kms, he still passionately drives his all time favourite car. He has bought many other cars in the last four decades including those with the latest modern technology, but his love for the Ambi remains unmatched. 

The Temple Car of the MLM Family

He told this writer on a long ‘test’ drive to the Appar Samadhi in Thiruvanmiyur from his home in Luz Avenue that he has taken care of the Ambi as if it was his own child“Our first long trip in May 1985 was a self driven trip to Vaitheeswaran Koil from Mylapore with our family. Five people could easily sit. It had a large boot space and could carry our luggage on long trips. We have driven across the entire South India including to all temples in Karnataka and Kerala. My daughter Saraswathi named it as the ‘Temple Car’ as we did all our temple trips in this car.”

The First Woman Amby driver in Tuticorin

Within six months, he took the car to Tuticorin where he continues to run a Salt business “That year, I taught my wife, Janaki, driving near the Tuticorin Port and helped her secure her car driving license. She was the first lady to drive an Ambi in Tuticorin. Over the next 15years, she too drove the ambi on national highways on our long drives.”

The Old Fashioned Tag that he doesn't mind

Lakshmanan himself would have driven over 3lakh kms on this Ambi across the four Southern States. “My kids think I am a bit old fashioned to be still driving this car but this is a car that has given me great driving satisfaction.  For almost two decades, both my wife and I drove it ourselves across the length and breadth of the Southern States.”

He says the secret of decades long endurance lies in the way he has maintained the car “Like how you would take care of even a small wound of your child, I attend to even minor repair immediately. The 1984 Ambi has become one in my family. It may come as a surprise to many in the new gen that I have consistently done 100 KMPH on the national highways. Service maintenance is the secret for this car to last this long. ”

During this long four decades span, Lakshmanan has used this Mark IV Amby to teach driving to 300 people including to all his family members. “It has given me great satisfaction that this car has served as the learning board for new entrants to driving both in my family as well as in my wide friends circle in the last four decades.”

Over the last decade with the entry of new technology, he converted the Ambi to a power steering 5 gear model and also installed an AC. 

Every Anusham to Kanchi

As one enters his Palatial house in Luz Avenue opposite the Nageswara Rao Park, there is a wide array of cars parked including the latest launches but for Lakshmanan, the Amby remains his all time favourite. Every Anusham, he drives this car to Kanchipuram for the celebration of Periyava’s monthly star in an almost thanking gesture for providing him with great driving delight for almost four decades.

This Salt Manufacturer from Tuticorin considers the 1984 Mark IV Amby as a rare treasure in his life

Thiruvallikeni Sripatham Thangis

July 9, 2022, 11:46 am

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Renowned for the Vibrant Prabhandham Ghosti, Parthasarathy Perumal temple in Thiruvallikeni has seen a transformation in the Sripatham service over the last decade

Devoted Teenagers taking to the Sripatham Service in good numbers augur well for the future

It is the 9th morning of the Chitrai Brahmotsavam at the Madhava Perumal Koil, Mylapore. On the final stretch of the procession on the Madhava Perumal Koil street the Sri Patham personnel made a fast paced return pushing aside the Prabhandham members in the process and racing past them. Later in the evening, ahead of the Kodi Erakkam event, the Sripatham Thangis started a procession from inside the temple to the flag post and positioned the Lord near the flag post even while the Prabhandham members were reciting the Thiru Nedunthandagam verses. In both instances, the Prabhandham members were helpless (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/05/madhava-perumal-temple-kodi-erakkam.html).

On the 11th day of the Panguni Utsavam at the Kapaleeswarar Temple, Mylapore, the Sripatham personnel made an almost one hour halt in front of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan…Reason – it was the collection day for the work they had rendered over the previous 10days. Every year, on the 11th night of the utsavam, the procession does not return to the temple until the completion of the ‘collection’ formalities from almost every shop on the four Mada streets.

A similar scenario existed at the Parthasarathy Perumal temple in Thiruvallikeni in the not too distant past. Just under 25years ago, the procession during the Brahmotsavams in Chitrai and Aani did not stick to a time bound schedule. Collection exercise was part of the agenda of the Sripatham Thangis.  They did not always turn up on time but the traditionalists were helpless. 

A Vibrant Prabhandham Ghosti

With MA Venkatakrishnan taking over charge of the Prabhandham Ghosti and anchoring the team management at a very early stage in his life, the recital of the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham had remained vibrant at the Thiruvallikeni Divya Desam through the second half of the 20th century, one that has continued to this day. He brought together school students in the 1970s and 80s to learn the sacred verses of the Azhvaars in the process also ensuring that their academic focus was not affected (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html). 

While this was so with the Prabhandham Ghosti, the traditionalists could not breakthrough the stranglehold that ‘others’ had on the Sripatham service. They were outnumbered towards the later part of the previous century and had to bear the brunt quietly.

Transformational Change

The scenario had looked bleak back then in the 1990s and early 2000s, but the turnaround has been quite remarkable with a transformational change that has come about over the last decade. 

It’s Saturday (July 9) morning and day 3 of the Narasimhar Brahmotsavam, the occasion of the Garuda Sevai and Esal.  Well over a hundred Sripatham personnel in their traditional attire have gathered at the Western Raja Gopuram just after 5.30am. For the next couple of hours, one saw team work at its best and they delight the huge devotee crowd that has specially come in to watch the performance of the Esal.

 

Photo: S Sampath Kumar (Insurance)

Way back in early 1990s, a group of traditionalists started the Thennacharya Sripatham Sabha but it could not make significant inroads into the Sripatham service for close to 15years. R Lakshminarasimhan, now Mestri, told this writer in a conversation in November 2017 that when they brought a few Sripatham members from Srirangam in the late 1990s, objections were raised and the team backed out. It was a defensive phase as they watched from the sidelines the in-disciplined functioning of the then personnel.

EO Pon Jayaraman makes a big call

When Pon Jayaraman took over as the EO of the temple, he was not pleased with the way the Sripatham were conducting themselves. By this time, the traditionalists had gathered in strength and could garner over 40members for the big occasions. For a decade until then, the Sripatham had been paid close to Rs. 10Lakhs annually for their service by the HR & CE department. The traditionalists whose focus was to carry Perumal and Azhvaars as a Kainkaryam cut down on the fee quite significantly and ‘bagged’ the rights to carry the Lord through the year. Ever since, there has been a dramatic revival with Sripatham personnel in traditional attire carrying the Lord in all the processions. 

Looking back at the functioning of the then Sripatham soon after he took charge, Pon Jayaraman told this writer that he found that devotion was lacking in the Sripatham personnel at that time.“They came in shorts. I did not find them having the right process. Discipline to stick to a timeline was lacking. It was a haphazard way of functioning. I wanted to streamline the entire process.”

“I found that there were a lot of Vaishnavites in Thiruvallikeni and was keen that they take over this service. I motivated them to take this up and backed them completely. While it was not a large team back then, they have now built it into an outstanding team that is fully committed to the Sripatham service.”

“This move gained acceptance among devotees who clearly preferred the traditional Vaishnavites carrying the Lord on their shoulder.”

Teenagers now an integral part 

During this period, the Sripatham team has strengthened significantly with the size having quadrupled. A pleasing feature is the emergence of school and college boys in good numbers and they now constitute almost half of the team. Kedayam and Azhvaar Pallakku serve as the training ground for the beginners and then they graduate to the small vahanas before becoming ‘eligible’ to perform service on the big vahana days.

For 18 year old V. Yathindrapravanan, a second year Engineering Student, while recital of the Vedas and Prabhandham is of prime importance, he makes time every now and then to carry the Lord on his shoulders out of devotional interest. For teenagers like him, performing the Sripatham service also helps builds unity and great team bonding that is likely to hold them in good stead later in life. Working together with such a large team during the utsavams also leads to improvement in their communication skills early in life with many of these youngsters turning extroverts.

This large team bonding has also resulted in forging life time friendship among the members.

All of them are also unmindful of the physical pains that the ten day brings. The swollen shoulders pales into insignificance when compared to the satisfaction they derive from performing this service.

US returned G Parthasarathy is at his best when reciting the Divya Prabhandham and has a differentiated voice. He too offers his services to the Sripatham team and is ever willing to pitch in to carry the Lord on processions when the Sripatham are short on personnel on certain days.

There are auditors, engineers and the self employed among them. All of them make time away from their work schedule to perform this service all through the year. Through a large part of this transformational phase, Ramanujam (Gatting) played an important part ideation and providing solutions to challenges that have come up from time to time over the last 15 years.

From Bangalore for the Big Utsavams

The devotional commitment to the Sripatham service can be seen from the trips Sravankumar Sriram has made in the last many years from Bangalore where he is employed.  During the Brahmotsavams, he is a regular member of the team carrying the Lord on the vahana processions. Presence of service oriented devotees like him have strengthened the Sripatham team in recent years.

All the way from Nanganallur every morning and evening

Soon after the Sabha took over the service, there has been a conscious effort to scale up the team size. As one of the measures, they welcomed Sripatham personnel from Mylapore and Nanganallur.

30 year old Anirudh K Murthy, a MBA from IIT Madras, is a Product Manager in a start up firm. A resident of Nanganallur, he has been performing Sripatham service at Lakshmi Hayagriva temple there from the time he was a school boy. He has been part of the Sripatham team in Thiruvallikeni from 2010 after the Thennacharya Sripatham Sabha took over the Sripatham service there.  

Photo:  S Sampath Kumar

On Saturday morning, he and his Nanganallur team mates made the 18km trip starting at 5am to be on time for the Garuda Sevai procession.  While he began making trips during the two Brahmotsavams a dozen years ago along with a couple of others from Nanganallur, more members have joined in now and on the big days like Garuda Sevai and Yaanai Vahanam procession, there are 15 of them from Nanganallur.

On works days during the Brahmotsavam it is quite challenging for Anirudh for he has to travel back an hour in traffic to Nanganallur after the morning procession and then make his way to work ‘I have sensitized my office regarding the big Utsavam days and to the fact that my presence was likely to be a bit erratic during the Thiruvallikeni Brahmotsavam. I consider it a blessing that just like the Sripatham team members in Thiruvallikeni, the office team mates too have been very considerate that has allowed us to perform this Kainkaryam.”

He looks back with delight at the way the service personnel from Nanganallur have been welcomed “We see it as an opportunity to serve the Lord. Praveen (anna), Gatting (anna) and his team have been open hearted. After a dozen years with them, we feel like we are like their brethren. Every time, we are there for the Brahmotsavam, Praveen (anna) ensures that we are well fed after the procession. Rarely does he allow us to leave without eating food.”

Mylaporean service over the last dozen years

Mylapore resident 29year old Baradwaj has a Masters in Sanskrit and is currently a Sanskrit teacher in a School in the city. He was formerly a cricket coach at the VB Chandrsekar academy and is also a scorer with the TNCA. He has been performing Sripatham service in Thiruvallikeni since the time he was a school boy. 

He is an integral part of the Prabhandham Ghosti at the Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore but whenever opportunity presents itself, he is in Thiruvallikeni for the Sripatham service “It’s a great blessing to be carrying Parthasarathy Perumal and Thelliya Singar on your shoulders and I am in Thiruvallikeni for all the big Utsavams. We are treated as one among them and its very satisfying that those from Mylapore (there are a few others as well who have been performing this service coming from Mylapore for a long time) have become an integral part of this team.”

From the Temple for their Service

In the decades gone by, the Sripatham personnel used to be presented with a few hundred kgs of rice annually for their service though this has been stopped since 2018. They are also presented with Pongal on most of the mornings of the Brahmotsavam. On the fifth day, on the occasion of Nachiyar Thirukolam, they are presented with Laddu, Vadai and Dosai for their service. 

As the thought process of the traditionilists has been that they are performing this as a service and not for financial remuneration, the Sripatham team has converted the annual payment received from the HR & CE into jewels for Perumal and Thayar including Pathakams and Udiyanams.

Personal accident insurance cover

A few years ago, Insurance expert S Sampath Kumar mooted the idea for an insurance cover for the Sripatham Personnel and helped implement the insurance plan. While this had not been renewed through the Pandemic period, the Sabha is looking to renew the plan once again this year. On occasions like Garuda Sevai and Yaanai Vahanam, the Sripatham Personnel are subject to serious physical injury. Also once a year they carry Parthasarathy Perumal on a long trip to Ekkattuthangal. The insurance cover would provide for any untoward events that occurs during the rendering of their tireless service.

Photo: S Sampath Kumar

Now as strong as the Prabhandham Ghosti 

In the 1990s and 2000s, while the Prabhandham Ghosti was seen in good numbers through the year in all the utsavams, the traditional feature was missing in the Sripatham service. But they have come back with a bang over the last decade or so with a team that is growing in size. A pleasing feature of the trend is the enthusiasm of the teenage boys in taking up the service. Just into their teens, the traditional boys of Thiruvallikenni are being initiated into this service with their parents and family members playing an important part in motivating them towards this devotional service. Early training at this age is ensuring that they are all set, both in terms of physical strength as well as expertise, to carry the Lord on the big vahanas once they are into the late teens. 

From the time, the Vaishnavite Sripatham were outnumbered, they have come a long way building a strong team of around 200 who perform this service for close to 300 days in a year. At a time when the Lord is now carried on wheeled tyres in most Divya Desams including during the annual Brahmotsavam, it is a redeeming feature that historical tradition of the Lord being carried by the Sripatham on their shoulders is being followed to this day in Thiruvallikeni Divya Desam. And with the new gen coming in good numbers to continue this service, it augurs well for the traditional Sripatham Service.

Madhava Perumal Mylapore Temple Renovation

July 20, 2022, 2:08 am

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TVS' Venu Srinivasan is back in Mylapore for the Consecration related Thiruppani works at the ancient Madhava Perumal Temple

He undertook major repair works 15years ago and has been taking care of the maintenance of the temple ever since

Balalayam ceremony expected in Avani with the consecration sometime in early 2023

It is renovation time again at one of the prominent among the Non Divya Desams in the heart of Madras. In the next month or so, Thiruppani works is likely to start at the Madhava Perumal Koil in Mayurapuri (now Mylapore) with consecration early next year. Just over 15years ago, Industrialist Venu Srinivasan, who had by then had had well over a decade of restoring ancient temples was asked if he could restore this temple. At that time, it had been in a bad shape with fading gopuram and vimanas. A lot of what we see today at this temple is an outcome of that restoration exercise undertaken by him back then in 2007. 

January 2007 Consecration

The restoration involved refurbishing the Pushkarani on the Southern side, revival of the Nandavanam on the Western side, repair works of the entire flooring as well as painting of the Vimanas and the Eastern Raja Gopuram. The exercise that was started in 2005 took about 18months with the consecration having taken place in January 2007.

Since then Venu Srinivasan, like he has done with service personnel in all the temples where he has under restoration exercises, more famously in Nava Tirupathi and Srirangam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/venu-srinivasan-historical-temples.html), has been providing monthly Sambhavanai to the kainkaryapakas at the Madhava Perumal temple including the madapalli cook, paricharaka and archakas. He has also assigned a full time day security person at the temple.

Maintainence by TVS' Venu

Venu Srinivasan’s team also provides daily provisions for Kaala Sandhi and Uchi Kaala Thaligai. In addition, garlands are also provided everyday for the Perumal as well as 80 molam of flowers every day. TVS has also been taking care of the regular maintenance of the temple that is reflected in the overall cleanliness inside the complex. He has restored over 200 temples across TN, Karnataka and AP.

The utsavams are now grand as seen from the Rama Navami and Chitrai Brahmotsavam that took place earlier this year. A three day Pavitrotsavam takes place in Aadi.

Three Decades of every day devotion

Maduravalli Parthasarathy lives opposite the temple and has been visiting the temple every day for almost 35 years.  Her husband was the Head of the Commerce department at the Vivekananda College and had served there for four decades. She recalls her association with the MadhavaPerumal temple “Our two daughters who have moved overseas after their marriage are keen for us to be with them in our old age but the peace of the mind that we get when at the MadhavaPerumal temple is unmatched. The temple is beautifully maintained by the TVS personnel. It is neat and cleanliness is of the highest order. When we enter the temple, we can feel the positive vibration.”

Friendly Welcoming Priests

Retired professor Parthasarathy who has been closely associated with the Bhattars from the late 1980s is all praise for the devotional commitment of the priests “From Sridhar Bhattar in the early 1990s to Seenu Bhattar and the one now- Sundar Bhattar, they have all very devotionally committed. Every devotee is welcomed with a smile and it gives us a very good feel when we are at the Sannidhi.”

A quiet and peaceful temple

For 67 year old R Govindarajan, a long time resident of Adyar, Madhava Perumal Temple is the go to place whenever he seeks peace of mind. Out of all the temples in the area, he finds a certain unmatched positive devotional vibration when inside this temple "The temple is clean and well maintained. There is not much noise inside the temple and we are able to have darshan in peace. Going around the prakara also provides a devotional experience for you do not have constant chit chats that you find in other temples and you can be on your own finding your peace here."

Next Gen Priest

Maduravalli is delighted that the next Gen Ashwin Bhattar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/madhava-perumal-temple-next-gen-bhattar.html) too is following in his appa Sundar Bhattar's footsteps. “He is very friendly and his alankarams are special. We are happy that he has shown interest at this young age to perform Kainkaryam at the temple. Interestingly, even the HR & CE personnel have been very friendly at this temple over the last three decades.”

Pre Thiruppani work begins

Last Saturday, the painting team of Venu was at the Madhava Perumal temple to assess the current state of the temple and to take measurements. The painter who has been involved in many restoration exercises that Venu has undertaken in TN temple told this writer that he would submitting his findings soon.

If all approvals are received on time, Balalayam could take place as early as Avani and the entire work could be completed by January. As per the current plan, all the walls will be repainted from scratch and the Raja Gopuram too will wear a fresh look.

The temple that has a rich history attached to it is said to be at least 800 years old (in its current form) though there are views that this temple may have existed around the time of the Azhvaars.  In Brahmmaanda Puranam, under the section Mayurapuri Mahatmiyam, one finds reference to this place as ‘Madhavapuram’. 

Prarthana Sthalam

One of the first three Azhvaars, PeyAzhvaar, is believed to have been born in the street South East of the Madhava Perumal temple. It is said that Santhana Pushkarani was the sacred tank of Sage Brigu, who lived in the ashram here. The age old belief, as referred to in Mayurapuri Mahaatmiyam, is that couples who bathe here on the full moon day in the Tamil calendar month of Maasi (mid Feb-mid March) and who offer their prayers to Madhava Perumal and Amruthavalli Thaayar will be immediately blessed with children. This is also a Prarthana Sthalam for unmarried people.  Offering prayers to Lord Madhava Perumal who is seen in Kalyana Kolam is said to help one find his or her match immediately. 

Aadi Pooram Utsavam

In the Tamil calendar month of Aadi, Lord Niranjana Madhava Perumal is seen in a sleeping posture on the lap of Andal- a special event on the 9th day of the Aadi Pooram utsavam. The Prabhandham Ghosti is now increasing in number. The members present the sacred verses of the Azhvaars on five days every month in addition to all the utsavam days. Starting this Saturday, the they will be seen presenting Tiruvoimozhi verses over the ten days of the Aadi Pooram festival. The team has also been strengthened by the moving in from Thiruvallikeni to Mylapore of 75 year old Madhabhooshi Varadarajan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/06/madabhooshi-varadarajan.html).

Bhoo Varahar Sannidhi

On the western side of the temple is the Bhoo Varahar sannidhi. A special homam is performed in February every year ahead of the final exams of students. It is believed that Varahar helps student devotees come out successfully in their examinations. While over the last three decades, there were a set of regulars who visited the Madhava Perumal temple, in recent times, the temple has attracted several new devotees with many also invoking the blessings of Varaha Perumal

One of the special features at the Madhava Perumal Koil is the 9 day festival during Panguni when Rama is brought to life with special decorations every day relating to different events/episodes in his life. 

Vedic Scholars too have now made it a daily practice to recite the Vedas in the evenings. Young students aged below 15 from across Tamil Nadu who are residing in the Gurukulam opposite the temple and learning the Vedas are also regular devotees of the temple every evening.

Consecration in early 2023

Early next year, it is likely that the Madhava Perumal Temple will wear a fresh look with the consecration expected to take place in Thai/ January 2023. It is also hoped that by then the young 22 year old Ashwin Bhattar, an alankaram specialist, would have got the service appointment from the HR & CE. If that happens, this temple will be in his safe hands for the next few decades as he seems to have committed himself to a lifetime in service of Madhava Perumal.

Festivals 

Theppotsavam in Maasi 

PeyAzhvaar Avataara Utsavam in Aipasi 

Chitrai Brahmotsavam 

Quick Facts 

Moolavar: Madhava Perumal East facing Sitting posture (Kalyana Kolam) 

Thaayaar: Amrutha Valli Thaayar 

Utsavar Deities: Aravind Madhavan, Niranjana Madhavan 

Temple Time: 7am-12noon and 430pm -830pm 

Contact :  Sundar Bhattar@99529 39762/Ashwin Bhattar@7397459680

How to reach 

Madhava Perumal temple is behind Sanskrit College/ Thiru Valluvar Statue in Mylapore and walking distance from MRTS Mundakanni Amman Koil Station.

Vijay Nirmal Kumar Cricketer Don Bosco

July 22, 2022, 1:02 pm

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Former Cricketer rises to the top of the Corporate Ladder 
The once ‘Rebellious' teenager  now manages the wealth of the Who’s Who in the Corporate World

N Vijay Nirmal Kumar (Pappu to his cricketing friends) had the makings of a solid opener in the second half of the 1980s and early 90s. He had a strong foundation at Don Bosco and at age group level in city and state schools coached by Chandrasekar Rao, Audi Chetty and Umapathy. He was a talented off spinner as well.  Cricketing glory beckoned. He shared the room with Rahul Dravid for South Zone at the U15 level. But parental pressure got the better of him and he simply could not unshackle himself from his appa’s perpetual outbursts and quit serious cricket in his late teens turning a rebel. But the cricketing lessons did not go waste and he used it in his corporate life. Touching 50, he now manages the wealth of the who’s who in the corporate world while also turning spiritual and seeking ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Saraganathi’ in his way of life. Here is the story.

A Don Bosco Product

Vijay Nirmal Kumar did his entire schooling at Don Bosco. His appa Nandakumar hailed from Coimbatore and was a cricket fanatic. Unfortunately his cricketing interests were crushed by his appa. For a large part, Nandakumar had to play matches without his appa’s knowledge and even had to hide the paper scores.  Nandakumar had started Prasad CC in Coimbatore and another one by the same name in Chennai later. His appa would bowl to him at the BS Nets and shape his early batting style. What he could not achieve as a player he was keen for his son to. In this endeavour, he entered the cricketing life of his son right at the beginning when Vijay Nirmal Kumar was just 11. He would take his son to the BS Nets and bowl to him after the seniors had finished through the nets session. Nandakumar decided everything in his son’s cricketing life - starting with how much back lift should there be. 

When Vijay Nirmal Kumar came to play a practice match in the late 1980s for DB against YMCA TSR for whom this writer played, his appa’a voice was heard every ball that he faced. As a young teenager his ability to express himself was completely taken away from him. It symbolized his entire cricketing phase.

Emotional Challenges of a teenager

Of course, he was a beneficiary of some special privileges early on though he did not ask for it. His appa’s powerful presence in the TNCA led to him being given extra batting in the nets at the selection trials, something that eminent cricket writer of the time Rajan Bala pointed out in the Indian Express. As a teenager he was blissfully unaware of what was happening around him except that he was under the total control of his appa. It was a phase when he was fully into cricket getting through the school exams based only on the last month of preparations each year.

Don Bosco U15 -  Vijay Nirmal/ Tanvir Jabbar ( extreme L/R)

Vijay Nirmal Kumar looks back at those early days in cricket “My appa wanted to live his cricketing dream though me. His intention was noble but he did not know as to how it affected me, emotionally.”

Clearly engineering was not his subject  of choice but he had to join COE, Guindy on sports quota when he may have preferred to have played cricket for Viveka or Loyola (though not New College!!!). He was caught between his appa on one side and the college PD who was not particularly inclined towards cricketers in that phase. He was not given on duty attendance for missing classes for cricketing reasons including first division practice. 

“He was after perfection and would not be satisfied even after I scored a century. The fun element was taken away from me.  Till I became an adult the fear of failure was high. After a century, I was made to feel that I missed a double century and after a five wicket haul, I was made to feel that I missed a 7 wicket haul.”
 
There were severe emotional challenges he went through in that early phase with his appa watching every ball from the sidelines. “I could not hit any ball in the air. His drilling made me focus on not getting out under any circumstance. Mind did not function optimally during my cricketing days. When I once got run out for 99, I was pulled up for missing the century.”

To be under the scrutiny of his appa every ball he faced and every ball he bowled drained him emotionally that he lost the joy of playing. Instead of enjoying the sport, he became emotionally drained. He looked around him and found cricketers enjoying their game. Added to this was the tag of being a TNCA official’s son which always made his inclusion a questionable selection. There were always murmurs around in the cricketing circles. 

The Only Emotional Support – Tanveer Jabbar
TN cricketer from the 1990s Tanveer Jabbar played along with Vijay Nirmal Kumar through the late 80s for Don Bosco and for city and state schools. For a few years, they spent morning and evening together at the cricket nets and knew each other well. While Vijay Nirmal Kumar was a slow starter and a steady player, Tanveer was flamboyant. The two forged several big partnerships during the period and helped win matches for the school. He was one cricketer who stood by him in that difficult emotional phase in cricket. He told this writer that Vijay Nirmal Kumar was a very dedicated and disciplined cricketer“He was always willing to learn but unfortunately he could not do what he wanted to do. His father adopted an autocratic style and the conversations were always one sided."

“He could not get out of his father’s clutches throughout his schooling days. From gripping the bat to the back lift, from the stance to the foot movement, his father decided everything and was right in his ears every minute of his cricketing life at school.”

“We had a good understanding of each other. I knew exactly as to what he was going through and tried my best to show compassion and empathy towards his feelings. He let out all his frustrations in our long conversations."

Turns a rebel at 18
In another story seen in this section earlier, Mayura Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/sanmar-mayura-kumar-swimming-tennis.html) too was initially pushed into tennis by her appa and uncle (late N Sankar) but she quickly got away from living their tennis dream and went on to become a national champion in swimming. But Vijay Nirmal Kumar failed to take such a quick call. Into college, he turned a rebel - his physical appearance being testimony to his new way of life. From a short summer hair cut earlier he turned a hippy growing his hair long. He joined a rock music band moving away mentally from cricket. He began to express himself outside of cricket in a way he had never done previously. He stopped engaging in cricketing conversations with his appa.

“At 18, I turned a rebel. I decided to take the opposite direction to what he took. I made new friends outside of cricket. It was a phase where nobody asked me any questions. I had also become a devotee of Ramana Maharishi and the spiritual experience continues to this day.”

Strong performance on the field

Between all of these, he had turned in some very good performances first for his school and also for the city and state in age group cricket. In 1986 he bowled in the nets to Gavaskar during the tied test and got him out “years later he still remembered me taking his wicket in the nets” recalls Vijay Nirmal Kumar.

Srikkanth – The Best Captain
He also moved up to playing first division cricket for Railway Institute and Alwarpet. Playing under K Srikkanth was fun “He was the best captain I had played under. He mixed humour with serious cricket. He was highly motivational and got the best out of the team.”

There were also lows in cricket. Former TN and Goa allrounder J Gokulakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html), currently a BCCI match referee told this writer a few years ago as to how Vijay Nirmal dreaded the inswinger "There was a phase that he got out continuously to my inswingers and just did not like facing me."

Vijay Nirmal rose to the level of being in the list of Ranji probable in the 1990s but he moved away from cricket into the corporate life. His cricketing phase in the late 1980s was such a nightmare that he has erased it completely from his memory and does not remember most of the big knocks for his school or the state. In recent times, he has returned to cricket and is a member of the apex council of the TNCA. Later, he came back to play lower division cricket once in a while as well as the popular inter club cricket where for The Presidency Club he expressed himself like never before. Playing with a new found freedom, he unleashed himself with audacious stroke play at the start of the innings. 

Big Success in the Corporate World
Soon after becoming an engineer, he joined a manufacturing plant but he soon found out that he was not cut out for production. He pursued his MBA from Symbiosis and moved into the banking sector. He had not been able to fulfill his cricketing potential but in the corporate world he has made right to the top, literally sitting on the 7th floor of the bank!!! Over the last two decades, he has enjoyed enormous success in the corporate world working in large firms such as Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, Merrill Lynch and Barclays. Into the late 40s, he has become one of the most successful wealth managers. Currently he is the Regional Head of the Wealth Management division at one of India's leading private sector bank. For all the emotional challenges in his cricketing phase, he has found the will to put those behind him to make it to the top of the corporate ladder. He now manages the wealth of the ‘Who’s Who’ in corporate circles. He has bagged the top performer award multiple times at the bank but he brushes away the corporate success in his current philosophical way of life “it all happened on its own and in the way it had to.” 

However, he does credit a lot of his corporate success to the cricketing lessons “The cricketing experience has given me a lot of mental balance and helped in emotional management in the corporate world. It taught me resilience. Cricket was a hard grind and we had to dig deep against the great bowlers of the time. It developed my character and has helped with discipline and work ethic. Cricket has been the greatest teacher. It taught me that I could get out every ball, I could score a zero after a century and I carried that lesson into the corporate life. It helped me manage success and failure and provided the much needed emotional control. It has contributed to the DNA of how you function.” 

Cricketer turned Enterpreneur Promodh Sharma played cricket alongside Vijay Nirmal Kumar in the 1980s and has known him closely for over three decades. He has also placed his investment faith in him for several years "As an investment Banker Vijay is second to none . He puts great value on integrity and always keeps the clients best interest at heart whenever he advises you on any matter. He does his homework and ensures that he understands your risk appetite and then acts in accordance. Of course goes without saying he is very intuitive and understands the odds he is dealing with on the market very very well.He has consistently delivered on my family’s portfolio over the years."

Martial Arts and Tapas
What a transformation it has been for a cricketer who was once under the clutches of his appa. From the emotional lows during his early cricketing phase to great corporate success, from black and brown belt in Martial Arts to everyday Tapas, Vijay Nirmal has experienced it all. His emotional balance and the sense of calm that one sees in him these days is something one could not have fathomed after what he went through in his teenage life. There is a blessed feeling about him when one finds him immersed in meditation at the Arunachaleswarar Sannidhi at the Kapaleeswarar Temple where he is a regular these days. He has found his purpose in life having been on a self-discovery path and is working towards attaining ‘Enlightenment’ following the Saranagathi way of life. 

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Madhava Perumal Temple Next Gen Bhattar

April 10, 2022, 11:58 am

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A 22 year old Bhattar displayed his special alankaram skills during the ten days of the Rama Navami utsavam

Soon to complete his Masters in Commerce, Ashwin Bhattar is all set to take full charge at this ancient temple in Thyagarajapuram, Mylapore

It has been a refreshing ten days at the ancient Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore. For two years, all the utsavams had come to a halt. The atmosphere inside the temple had been down through this period. The annual Brahmotsavam that takes place in Chitrai coincided with the peak of Wave 1 and Wave 2 leading to cancellation in both the years. The devotee crowd had dwindled, archanai was restricted. Overall it had been a gloomy two years.

The ten day Rama Navami celebration was the first big utsavam at the temple. A positive outcome of the Pandemic is that a young priest is all set to take charge at the temple. Ashwin Bhattar is just 22 years old and will shortly be completing his Masters in Commerce from the Madras University. While the trend has been for the next gen among the priests to move into the corporate world given the challenges the previous gen has faced in temples, Ashwin Bhattar has decided to join his appa Sundar Bhattar full time at the Madhava Perumal temple.

During the ten days of the utsavam, he showcased his devotional attachment to Lord Rama with delightful alankaram on each of the evenings. The big episodes and the multiple turning points in the Ramayana were presented as Thiru Kolam through the utsavam.

The utsavam began on April 1 with Ashwin Bhattar presenting the episode of a young handsome looking Rama protecting Sage Viswamithra’s Yaagam. While every evening after 5.30pm the devotees were stunned with the beautiful decorations, very few knew that it was the solo hand of the 22 year old whose had spun a magic on Lord Rama.

Through this week, Ashwin Bhattar worked on alankarams relating to different episodes from the Ramayanan including Ahalya Curse liberation, Rama breaking Shiva’s bow, Sita Kalyanam, Baratha meeting with Rama in the forest and the killing of Mareecha.

 

Three differentiated Thiru Kolams stood out during the week that created devotional excitement in the people who visited the temple. 

Kulasekara Azhvaar as Hunter King Guha

It is not often that a hunter king and a boat specialist is given importance in an utsavam relating to the historical epic. When Rama was banished to the forest for 14years by King Dasharatha following the redemption of the two boons he had given earlier to his wife Kaikeyi, it was under the leadership of hunter king Guha that Rama, Sita and Lakshmana went past the Ganges in a big sized boat for a life to be spent in the forest. Much later, when brother Bharata came to know the background to Rama’s 14 year exile and his departure from Ayodhya, he left the capital city to try and locate Rama in the forest and get him back to the kingdom. Once again it was Guha, an expert boatman, who created a special boat for Bharata to cross the Ganges to meet with Rama in the Chitrakoota forest.

Ashwin Bhattar brought alive this great contribution of Guha on the fifth day of the Rama Navami utsavam at the Madhava Perumal temple. Seated on a boat, Kulasekara Azhvaar decorated as Guha was seen ferrying Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.

The Nose Cut Thiru Kolam

On the 7th day of the Utsavam, the Soorpanaka ‘Nose Cut’ episode from the Ramayana was presented to the devotees.While Rama was spending time in exile at Panchavati along with Sita and Lakshmana, Ravana’s sister Soorpanaka, who had the magical power to transform herself to a beautiful woman, was overcome by the handsome features of Rama. When despite her pleas, Rama refused to accept her love, Soorpanaka seeing Sita as the hurdle, attempts to kill her.

It was then Lakshmana intervenes and chops off her nose. It is this episode in Panchavati that led the angry Soorpanaka to head back to Lanka to describe the beauty of Sita and create the lust in Ravana to attain her.

Till this episode, Rama and Sita ably assisted by the dutiful Lakshmana had been leading an enjoyable life in the beautiful Panchavati, almost forgetting that they were in exile in the forest. It was as a consequence of the chopping off of Soorpanaka’s nose that Ravana came to the forest to carry off Sita back to Lanka leading to the battle between Rama and Ravana.

With Rama and Sita watching, Lakshmana giving Soorpanaka a nose cut with his sword and she lifting her left hand writhing in pain left the devotees glued to this beautiful decoration.

Following Soorpanaka’s nose cut, she sought revenge on Rama by describing the beauty of Sita to her brother Ravana leading him to seek the help of his uncle Maareecha who was now living the life of an ascetic in a far away ashrama after having been given a 2nd life by Rama when he had tried to disrupt Sage Viswamitra yaagam (day 1 Thiru Kolam). Maareecha saw that his end was near. If he did not listen to Ravana, he was likely to be killed by him. Hence he found it fit for his life to end in the hands of Rama and took the form of a never been seen Golden Deer to take Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita. This episode of the Maareecha turned Golden Deer was presented to the devotees on the eighth evening by Ashwin Bhattar.

                                    

The Grand Finale

As the summer heat clocked its peak for the month, Ashwin Bhattar had a long day at work on Sunday. It was Rama’s birthday and he had a dual task on hand. It was going to be the only procession of the ten days of the utsavam. Later in the evening, Rama was to provide darshan in the Hanumantha Vahanam and Ashwin Bhattar began his twin alankaram shortly after noon. 

When the screen opened at 5.30pm, the devotees who gathered ahead of the procession were treated to a twin delight. Rama was seen in a grand green silk vastram with a beautiful glittering necklace across his chest. The young priest added beauty to the decoration with a special ‘Kodi Sampangi’ flower garland that caught the attention of the devotees.

Through the ten days of the utsavam, the Prabhandham members, though in small numbers, showed great devotional commitment in presenting the entire Iyarpa and Tiruvoimozhi verses. 

While the celebratory evening began with a 90 minute recital of Kulasekara Azhvaar’s verses in praise of Rama followed by the final canto of Nam Azhvaar’s Tiruvoimozhi, the devotees’ eyes were all on the presentation of the handsome Rama atop Hanuman. Just after 7pm on Sunday evening, the Prabhandham members were back to lead the procession with their presentation of the Ramanuja Nootranthathi. Devotees were delighted to watch Lord Rama take a majestic princely walk around the temple complex carried effortlessly by Hanuman. A bunch of young vedic students followed the Lord chanting the Vedas.

It was a grandeur they had not seen for two years and the devotional fervour was back at the Madhava Perumal temple.

At 22, Ashwin Bhattar is clearly turning out to be an alankaram specialist at the Madhava Perumal temple and that augurs well for this ancient temple. One now looks forward to his alankarams during the annual Brahmotsavam that starts on the 24th of this month.

Perumper Kandigai Thanthoneeswarar Temple Renovation

July 26, 2022, 2:26 am

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The Hereditary Trustee hopes to restore the temple to its Chozha Period glory 

Revival of the Pancha Moorthy Procession on the Kumbhabhisekam day on August 29

57 year old Ravi Gurukal has been performing pooja at the chozha period Thanthoneeswarar temple in Perumper Kandigai near Thozhupedu about 10kms South West of Melmaruvathur. It was here that Sage Agastya undertook penance and had darshan of the Lord and Ambal in a Kalyana Kolam. A 1000 years after the Chozha kings donated lands for the upkeep of the temple, this writer was welcomed into the temple by a long snake. Ravi Gurukal who has been here from childhood says that this is no uncommon feature and that it is part of his every day life, a reminder of how Seshamani Bhattar spent his first decade at the Erettai Tirupathi Divya Desam in Nava Tirupathi in the 1980s (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/02/seshamani-bhattar-erettai-tirupathi.html)

Selfless Service for the last four decades

After completing his agama education at Kanchi Mutt’s Vazhalur Patshala (2year) and Dharmapuram Atheenam (5 years) in the mid 1980s, he came back to his hereditary temple at Perumper Kandigai. At the Patshala, life was different. There were coconut and mango groves all around but here it was forest like bushes and dark without lights. Looking at the financially challenged life his appa M Rajamani Gurukal having performed pooja at this remote temple for five decade, Maha Periyava asked if he would go to Varanasi to perform abhisekam at the temple there at a salary that was quite high in those days and with free accommodation. Later Periyava sent him a letter asking if he would go to Madurai to perform service at the Subramanya temple. 

Appa's five decades without electricity and with snakes around

There had been no electricity at the temple in the time his appa performed service. This entire area was like a forest with huge trees even around the temple. There were hundreds of snakes moving around. His appa brought ghee lit lamp to the temple to perform service. The only source of income was from the 6acre land that Kulothunga Chozha had donated to his forefathers for the upkeep of the temple.  There are several inscriptions dating back to the 9th and 10th Century AD and the donations made to the trustees of the temple. 

His appa went by cycle to the Murugan temple atop the hill where they have performed hereditary service for centuries.

With his appa having performed service in such financially difficult conditions, Ravi Gurukal asked Maha Periyava if he could continue the hereditary service that his forefathers had rendered here. And thus in 1984, he joined the temple and has been performing service here for almost four decades without much income.

“When I was a child there was not enough rice to consume every day. I was moved devotionally when I saw my appa cycle several kms to perform service in multiple village temples. And I decided to stay put at this historical temple and perform service here.”

With his agama knowledge, he went around performing Kumbhabhisekams and that helped in the maintenance of the Thaduthaat Konda Nayaki samedha Thanthoneeswarar temple. With the Sambhavanai he received from the Kumbhabhisekams, he began making improvements at the temple. 

He performed the Kumbhabhisekam of this temple in 2007 for the first time after over two centuries. He also built a Rana Patra Kaligambal Sannidhi in 2012. Three years ago, a flag post was installed with a Nandi Mandapam. A new sannidhi for Vinayaka and Chandikeswarar is being built now. He has also built an alankaram mandapam and a hall where Veda Parayanam can take place. 

New Pancha Moorthy idols

15years after the previous consecration, its time for Thiruppani again. Ravi Gurukal is keen on  Pancha Moorthy idols for this temple and for processions to start at least on special occasions. There are some parts of the temple that need repairs. Painting work for the Vimana will also take place as part of the Thiruppani works. 

While his appa had performed service for five decades without electricity, Ravi Gurukal is finally looking at proper electricity supply to the temple and is trying to get extensive wiring done. He is also planning to get a water line to the temple.

His dream is to build the large outer walls for the temple as well as a Raja Gopuram. He says that Periyava’s blessings had been received to construct a 184 feet Raja Gopuram but there is no money for such construction at the moment ‘Just the outer walls alone will cost Rs. 50lakhs’, says Ravi Gurukal.

Even the current Thiruppani works is well beyond his reach. He says that the repair works will cost Rs. 12lakhs while the Kumbhabhisekam related event will cost Rs. 17lakhs. He has started off the work taking personal loan because it has been 15years since the previous consecration but he does not have the money to complete the Thiruppani without support from the devotees. 

Interestingly, both his sons have also undergone Patshala education and are involved in the pooja at the Hill Murugan temple, the nearby Kailasanathar temple and Thanthoneeswarar temple. It may have be an easy choice for them to go the corporate route like many descendants in several temples in TN have done but the sons want to continue the temple service and both have remained in this remote location far away from city life.

The Balalayam has taken place and Ravi Gurukal has faith that the Lord and Ambal for whom his forefathers have performed selfless service will help him find a way to complete the Thiruppani. The Kumbhabhisekam has been scheduled for 29th August and is just a month away. He is the lone man anchoring and monitoring the work every day in the crucial phase. It is hard to find those like Ravi Gurukkal these days. Staying back in hereditary location despite all the challenges and still ensuring that the historical temple finds its way back into the glory days again.

Work has begun in right earnest and with blessings from the Lord and Maha Periyava and with financial support from devotees, Ravi Gurukal is confident that the Kumbhabhisekam will take place as planned.

How to reach

Perumper Kandigai Thanthoneeswarar Temple is 2kms West of Thozhupedu off the Melmaruvathur - Tindivanam National Highway. Buses from Melmaruvathur to Tindivanam stop at Thozhupedu just after Acharapakkam (7kms from Melmaruvathur). From Thozhupedu, auto to the temple will cost Rs. 50. When here, also visit the Murugan temple atop the hill. 

Ravi Gurukal can be reached on 99529 65215

CS Suresh Kumar India Schools TN Opener NCA Coach

July 31, 2022, 1:36 am

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He had a meteoric rise in the late 1970s rising from beach cricket to India Schools and to five Ranji Centuries in his first 9 matches in the early 80s but the India call remained elusive

The  first batting coach of DK and M Vijay, Suresh Kumar is passing on his batting knowledge to the Next Gen of players as a Level III coach

Into his mid-teens the boy from Thiruvallikeni was more interested in cover ball cricket on the Marina Beach than TNCA schools cricket. Unlike most others from that historical location that is home to the Parthasarathy Perumal Divya Desam(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/07/thiruvallikeni-sripatham-thangis.html?m=0) he joined Adarsh School. The PD’s visit to his house transformed his cricket and he had a meteoric rise playing against the likes of Derek Pringle and Rameez Raja. He was soon on the verge of an India call. But his fall was just as sudden as the rise and he went out of favour quickly. In his second innings in cricket, he is trying to make his mark as a Level III Coach. Here is the story.

CS Suresh Kumar spent all his schooling days in Thiruvallikeni. It would have been normal for a boy from that location to have joined the Hindu school but his appa, a state TT player, was keen on convent education for his son and got him admitted to Adarsh School in Royapettah!!!While the school laid a strong foundation for his extrovert nature, the English language and communication skills that were to come in handy in his second innings in cricket, it did not possess a strong team in cricket.

From Beach Cricket to India Schools

And thus, into his teens, a lot of his cricketing time was spent at the Marina beach playing tennis ball tournaments with his friends.  He was ignored at the city schools selection for two years and he was not keen even to play cricket for the school. He recalls the transformational event at his home in the 2nd half of the 1970s that led to his meteoric rise in cricket “I skipped the school match but much to my surprise a hat trick from one of our bowlers (Naveen) led to a shock upset and we were into the next round. I still was not keen to go as I had been ignored in the TNCA selections but on the morning of the match, the PD (Mohana Krishnan) came home and asked me to come for the match as he was confident that I could make a match winning contribution. When I expressed my disinterest, he convinced my appa to send me for the match.”

‘When I reluctantly agreed and promised to be at the ground, he would not leave. He wanted to take me along and held me by hand to the ground.’ 

Suresh Kumar scored a big hundred against RKM North, a knock that shot him into limelight. It was one of the several big hundreds he was to score in the coming years. He continued to amass runs for Adarsh in 77-78. The century got him a place in the city schools and in no time he was playing for TN schools. In November 77, he scored a century against Karnataka in the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy in Trivandrum.

When the schools team from England visited India in 1977-78, he was in prime form having scored plenty of runs for TN and South Zone Schools. In the four test series, he scored quality runs in three displaying great patience that was to become a hallmark of his batting in the coming seasons when he graduated to the senior level. In each of the Junior Tests, he helped Indian Schools recover from a tricky situation. In the first test at the Wankhade Stadium in December 77, his half century helped India from 38/3. In the second test in Delhi, he scored 62 watched by Robin Marlar. 

In three tests, Suresh Kumar scored 178. The renowned cricket writer who was covering England’s Test Series in Pakistan made a quick trip to India to check out the English prospects (Future England players Derek Pringle, Paul Terry and Kim Barnett were part of that team). He wrote in January 1978 that India had found a solid top order batsman for the future referring to Suresh Kumar particularly pointing to his correct technique and temperament to play long innings and said that he had everything a coach could ask for from an opener.

Playing for SZ schools, he scored a half century against England in Hyderabad in January 1978.

Against Pakistan U19 in 78-79

Later that year, in December 1978, captaining TN, he scored a double century against Andhra in the South Zone inter-state schools tournament. His consistent run of scores in 1978 followed by an unbeaten half century against North Zone in the Cooch Behar Trophy was to earn him a place in the Indian U19 team in January 1979 but not before he had a bit of jitters at the selection.

At the trials to select the team to play Pakistan U19, Suresh Kumar was not given a chance to bat. A shocked Suresh gathered courage and went up to the selector Chandu Borde to make a polite enquiry “We have seen enough of you” Suresh Kumar recalls Borde telling him that day.  

He was in the team alongside future Ranji team mates R Madhavan and captain K Srikkanth. The team also included Chandrakant Pandit, Kiran More and Saad Bin Jung. In the second test at Chepauk, he scored 30. Continuing his good form, playing for South Zone against Pakistan U19, he contributed in both innings including another half century.

By this time, Suresh, who had made his league debut for Ranji CC, in the lower division league received offers from all the first division teams including from Sriraman. He joined YMA to play under the captaincy of legendary S Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html?m=1) for the first time. 

He recounts the change in his cricketing mindset between 1976 and 79 “While I did not have big cricketing hopes till I was 15, playing for Indian Schools and India U19 against visiting overseas teams led me to dream big and to play for India. My appa too who was not encouraging of cricket in the earlier phase began to acknowledge that I could make it big in cricket.”

However just when his cricketing fortunes were looking up in his late teens, financial challenges in the family led him to accept the job offer from SBI before he had graduated and thus missed out on College and University cricket. He moved from day to evening college (6pm to 9pm) at Viveka. In the three years at SBI, he shone enough to figure in the all India SBI team alongside GR Viswanath, Goel and Roger Binny, among other greats.

In that phase, he opened alongside the more stylish S Kedarnath (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/06/kedarnath-s-opener-from-1970s.html) who remembers him from the early 1980s "Suresh was a rock solid opener. He had a good temperament and penchant for long innings. He played several big knocks for SBI. At a time when he was doing well for the state in Ranji cricket and playing alongside legends such as GRV for the bank, he took the call to quit. We all tried to convince him but he would not listen."

U22 - Century on Debut

In October 1981, by when he had already joined SBI, he scored a century on debut for TN U22 against Hyderabad after coming in to replace K Srikkanth who had gone to play a Duleep Trophy match. By 1982, he had played for India Schools and India U19 and also starred in U22 cricket. He had been in line for a Ranji debut but that proved elusive for quite a while. 

It was his knock in November 1982 in the city vs districts match that finally got Venkat to have a final word on his entry into Ranji cricket. After big knocks from R Madhavan and S Balaji (century) for the districts had helped them post close to 400, city was bundled out for less than 150 and forced to follow on. Suresh Kumar shone through carrying the bat scoring 59NO. In the second innings, once again he scored a half century. 

Venkataraghavan's contribution

He remembers the strong words from Venkataraghavan.  “Venky saw me bat, was impressed and picked me for Ranji. It was he who believed in my potential (and R Madhavan’s) and encouraged us big time in the early 1980s. However, harsh he sounded, he always had the wellbeing of his teammates in his mind. He always told me that I had it in me to play for India.  “Cricket at the top is extremely challenging and one cannot take anything for granted. He inculcated the toughness in me that has helped right till this day.”

He told me that he had experienced the worst in his times and that he wanted every teammate of his to be at their strongest mentally. “He brought me out of any complacency I may have had at that time after a few good innings for TN.”

Suresh Kumar had a sensational couple of years in Ranji cricket. After debuting with a duck he was dropped for the next match. He recalls those few years with TN “I knew even a 50 would not be enough to survive in that TN team. I had to make big runs to keep my place.”

A glorirous Ranji run

Suresh Kumar had a sensational couple of years in Ranji cricket. Both his under 19 team mate from the late 70s R Madhavan and he debuted in the same match in Ranji against Hyderabad in rather contrasting styles. While Madhavan scored 96 (the story goes that TNCA’s Santhanam prayed continuously for Madhavan to not score a century on debut for those that did previously did not do well in cricket), Suresh Kumar scored a duck. Madhavan looks back at that season “He was dropped for the next match against Andhra after failing on his debut. When he was brought back for the game against a strong Karnataka bowling attack, he was all grit and determination.”

Madhavan and Suresh put together a 75run partnership that took TN close to Karnataka’s first innings score of 180+.  Against Raghuram Bhat and Vijayakrishna, Suresh Kumar show great patience to score 146. Both Madhavan and Suresh Kumar had one of the fastest to 1000 runs in Ranji cricket for TN. Southpaw  Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html?m=1) who played alongside Suresh in the India U19 series against Pakistan in the late 70s and who was on the verge of an India call against David Gower’s England in 84-85 recalls Suresh from those years  “There was no looking back for Suresh after that great century against Karnataka. He scored back to back centuries and had one of the best runs for a TN bat. His five centuries in 9matches was sensational performance” says Madhavan.

Suresh followed his maiden century with another big one (162) against Kerala in the next match once again posting a big opening partnership with V Shivaramakrishnan. Though he failed in the first knock out game against UP, famously known for centuries by two SVPB Udumalpet players, S Srinivasan and NP Madhavan(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html?m=1), Suresh Kumar ended his debut season with a century against Delhi that helped TN avert an outright loss. He easily topped the batting aggregate for TN that year having scored close to 500runs.

Though he began the next season with a duck in that famous match against Karnataka when TN’s top three were back in the pavilion in the first few minutes on an almost unplayable swinging first morning in Bangalore before R Madhavan shaped a great recovery along with S Srinivasan and Abdul Jabbar, Suresh Kumar came back with a bang in the 2nd match with yet another century. He ended the league phase with another century against Kerala and once again involved in a century stand with R Madhavan.

“I knew even a 50 would not be enough to survive in that TN team. I had to make big runs to keep my place and hence I focused on scoring centuries” says Suresh Kumar looking back on his first two seasons.

Symbol of Great Patience

PC Prakash (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/pc-prakash-tn-ranji-1980s.html) was in the same mould as Suresh Kumar in batting with both displaying strong defence and a great temperament to play the long innings. They were teammates and good friends right from the U22 days "His basics were strong. He had a sound technique and was a solid opener in those days. He was a very quiet and serious cricketer (became outspoken much later). While I did not play the match against Bombay, his century away from home was an outstanding effort. He was a symbol of great patience and it was an extraordinary innings that everyone took notice of."

                                      

Against the rampaging West Indians

These runs were not enough to get him a place in the Duleep Trophy team. His selection for South Zone and the Board President’s XI teams to play a rampant West Indies a few months after their World Cup loss leads Suresh Kumar to reflect on destiny that shapes one’s life.

“When I had no interest in serious cricket after joining Adarsh, the PD’s proactive visit to my home led to a cricketing transformation. Here when I was scoring runs aplenty in Ranji cricket, I was thrown in against the fastest bowlers in the world. They were relentless ball after ball, bowler after bowler.”

Selector Hanumant Singh had told Suresh that he was in contention for the tests if he made runs in the lead up games, especially in light of the fact that Gavaskar had chosen to go down the order “TA Sekar was the fastest I had faced until then but here was a battery of them relentless in their pursuit. Roberts and Marshall were almost unplayable. You could see the anger in their eyes after the World Cup loss. They were on a mission. I did not even have a helmet with me.’ 

PC says that a couple of big knocks against the West Indies could have been a turning point for him“In those days performing against the visiting teams was crucial. It was the stepping stone to playing for India. Unfortunately Suresh failed in those two matches. A strong performance against the Windies may have elevated him to the next level but sadly he missed out on those opportunities.”

Sidhu made a half century for BP XI and was in the test squad later in the series.

After a not too impressive league phase, he scored a century in the knock out game against Bombay in yet another big century stand with V Shiv in 1984-85. It was back to back century stand between the two after they have helped TN chase out the victory target of close to 200 against Bihar in the previous match. But really that was the end of his glorious run in Ranji cricket. He failed the entire season in 1985-86 and the selectors move to focus on the next gen of players saw the end of Suresh Kumar sooner than he may have expected given the rich vein of form he had been between 1982 and 84 “It felt like I was on top of the tower with a crown and then had a sudden fall.”

Also, in this phase, he fell in love with a young journalist who he later found resided in the same street. His wife,Latha, went on to become a high profile journalist in the fashion space(bureau chief magna) mingling with the who's who (Elite) in the city. Interestingly, she has turned spiritual now making frequent trips to Brindavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/andal-brindavan-nachiyar-thirumozhi.html?m=0) and the pressure is on him to follow in her spiritual endeavours.

Protege of Rajan Bala

Cricketer turned Enterpreneur Promodh Sharma(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/promodh-sharma-cricketer-turned.html) remembers opening alongside Suresh Kumar in the summer practice matches in the mid 1980s organised by Rajan Bala in T Nagar."The friendship was so close that Suresh would come and play with us (young boys). It was of course a great experience for all of us to be batting alongside someone who had big hundreds in Ranji Cricket.”

A TN team mate from the 1980s says that this may have backfired on Suresh “When a story on the lines of Suresh being TN’s Gavaskar, the legend during one of his visits to Madras sarcastically asked me ‘if he is TN’s Gavaskar, am I Bombay’s Suresh Kumar!!!’ "

A long time resident of Thiruvallikeni too felt that he had become too close to Rajan Bala for cricketing comfort "He was RB's protege and spent a lot of time with the cricket writer."

Of course, Suresh Kumar himself was proud to state that he had based his game on the legendary opener. “When I asked Gavaskar ahead of the tour match against West Indies on how I should handle the fast bowlers, he quipped ‘don’t give them time to think. Be ready when they are at the top of the bowling mark.’ That showed his greatness. He was always thinking as to how to tackle the best bowlers in the world.”

After his three good seasons in Ranji Cricket, even Venkataraghavan tipped him to go with the Indian team to Sri Lanka in 1985-86. But alas it was not to be. That was the final nail in the coffin for Suresh and he did not stage a comeback after that. 

Into Coaching

By mid 1984, Suresh Kumar had quit SBI and joined India Pistons. He was there for almost 25years. At the turn of the century he was one of the earliest to accredit himself with Level 3 coaching in India. For a long time he had a coveted role with the NCA. He launched his own academy 'CS Suresh Kumar Cricket Academy' at the Vivekananda College. He was also the one who was the first coach for both Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay when they were not yet into their teens. He has also been the coach for Kerala and Pondicherry Ranji Trophy team.

PC Prakash, who himself is the coach at the TNCA academy and has been the TN state coach in the past, rates him as a good batting coach "Suresh is very good batting coach. He speaks his mind and does not hold back. He has good command both over the language as well as the game, especially batting.'

From nowhere in the mid 70s studying in an unfancied school for cricket, he made it to the Indian Schools playing against England and Pakistan in Junior cricket, and had a sensational couple of years for TN in Ranji cricket in the early 1980s. In the form of his life, most thought that he was just a step away from making it to the Indian team. S Venkataraghavan repeatedly said in that phase that he was one of the most solid openers in domestic cricket and that a place in the Indian squad was not far away. But that remained elusive. Now two decades into his second innings in cricket, Suresh Kumar is looking to pass on his cricketing knowledge to the next generation of cricketers.

Pey Azhvaar Avathara Sthalam Dilapidated

August 4, 2022, 11:29 am

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Avathara Sthalam on Arundel Street belonging to Madhava Perumal temple in ruins

Will the HR &CE restore the Avathara Sthalam as part of the current Thiruppani works exercise that will start in Avani and revive the annual Pey Azhvaar Utsavam procession that has come to a halt

Aippasi Sathayam is one of the most important days in the year at the Madhava Perumal Temple in Thyagarajapuram, Mylapore. It is the birthday of one of the first three Azhvaar, Pey Azhvaar, who was born in Mylapore.

திரு கண்டேன் பொன்மேனி கண்டேன் 

திகழும் அருக்கன் அணிநிறமும் கண்டேன் 

செருக்கிளரும் பொன்னாழி கண்டேன் 

புரிசங்கம் கை கண்டேன் 

என்னாழி வண்ணன்பால் இன்று 

On this morning, Pey Azhvaar goes on a procession from the Madhava Perumal temple to the Avathara Sthalam on Arundel Street (historically known as 'Arundhathi Street'). There, the day long events would start with a Thirumanjanam. The Prabhandham members too gathered there on the occasion to recite Thirumozhi verses of Thiru Mangai Azhvaar.

After alankaram in the second half, Pey Azhvaar went on a Mangalagiri procession in the evening around the four big streets with the Prabhandham members presenting Ramanuja Nootranthaathi verses. The day ended with the recital of the last canto from Namazhvaar's Tiruvoimozhi.

Pey Azhvaar's Grand Birthday Celebrations halted

Unfortunately, the grand celebrations of Pey Azhvaar's birthday at his avathara sthalam has become a thing of the past with the sacred location shut down for a few years now after the mandapam had fallen off. Given the dilapidated state, this annual procession from Madhava Perumal temple to the Pey Azhvaar Avathara Sthalam has not taken place in the last few years. There has been no action from the HR & CE to restore the historical mandapam. 

The Pey Azhvaar Avathara Sthalam belonging to Kesava Perumal temple (that Trustee NC Sridhar has been managing) is just adjacent to the one belonging to the Madhava Perumal temple. On Aippasi Sarhayam, it has been a tradition for Pey Azhvaar from Kesava Perumal temple as well to make the annual trip to the Avathara Sthalam. Thus, through the previous century, Pey Azhvaar from both these temples have made the annual trip to the Avathara Sthalam on Arundel Street to celebrate the birthday on Aippasi Sathayam.

TVS's Venu to undertake repair works at Madhava Perumal temple

As seen in the story in this section last month, TVS’ Venu Srinivasan who has undertaken restoration exercises in over 200 temples across TN, Karnataka, AP and Kerala is undertaking the Thiruppani works at the Madhava Perumal temple with Balalayam expected to take place later this month (in Avani) following the three day Pavitrotsavam that will be performed next week. The Painting of the Vimanam and Raja Gopuram and other repair works inside the temple complex is likely to be completed within 6months (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/07/madhava-perumal-mylapore-temple.html).

The huge well is currently located at the Avathara Sthalam belonging to Kesava Perumal temple.

Avathara Sthalam not part of the Thiruppani works

Unfortunately, HR & CE’s application  and the approval from the renovation committee for the Thiruppani works did not include restoration of the Avathara Sthalam. One wonders why? This writer managed to take a few photographs this week of the dilapidated state of the avathara sthalam from between the fully covered aluminum sheets. One now finds dust bins in front of this sacred location, the birth place of Pey Azhvaar.

Dust Bins at the entrance of Pey Azhvaar's Avathara Sthalam

While the Pey Azhwar Avathara Sthalam belonging to Kesava Perumal temple on the same street has been well maintained with personnel having been posted to take care of the Nandavanam, the Avathara Sthalam belonging to Madhava Perumal Temple has been shut out with tall aluminum sheets. Sadly one now finds dust bins at the western entrance of this sacred Avathara Sthalam.

சார்வு நமக்கென்றும் சக்கரத்தான் 

தண்துழாய் தார்வாழ் வரைமார்பன் தான் முயங்கும் 

காரார்ந்த வானமரு மின்னிமைக்கும்  

வண்தாமரை நெடுங்கண், தேனமரும் பூமேல் திரு

Will HR & CE restore the Avathara Sthalam?

With the renovation exercise at the Madhava Perumal temple taking place after 15years, this is ideal time for the dilapidated Pey Azhwar Avathara Sthalam to be restored to its historical glory and for the Aippasi Sathayam Utsavam of Pey Azhvaar and the procession to the Avathara Sthalam to be revived.

It is hoped that the HR & CE will take immediate steps and include the restoration of the Avathara Sthalam as part of the current renovation exercise of the Madhava Perumal temple. 

Nandambakkam Kothandarama Temple

August 7, 2022, 1:07 am

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The young priest is paid a daily wage of Rs. 100!!!

Three major renovations in 30years but the financial plight of the priest family has not improved

It is hoped that the HR & CE will provide an appointment order and a fair salary to this city priest

37 year old Ananthakrishnan Bhattar has spent all his life at the several centuries old Kothandarama temple in Nandambakkam opposite the Chennai Trade Center⁸. His forefathers had been performing Thiru Aradhanam at the temple through the previous century. The financial situation in the family had been so bad in the 1980s and 90s that his appa, Veera Raghava Bhattachar, could only send him to a Government school. 

His appa himself had undergone agama education in the patshala in Tirumala and joined service here at a salary of a couple of hundred rupees that four decades later had risen to Rs. 1200 at the time of his death just over a decade ago.

Completes Agama Education

Despite the financial challenges at home, Ananthakrishnan’s interest right from his childhood was to serve at the feet of Kothandaramar. He would assist his appa in daily Thiru Aradhanam and during utsavams. After his Class X exams, he announced to his appa his interest to perform kainkaryam at the temple and discontinued academics. He joined the Patshala organised at the Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni and passed the certification examination. He also learned Vaikanasa Agama from Pattinam Koil Santhanam Bhattar (Mint-North Madras), Kallakuruchi Seshadri Bhattar and Muthukrishnan Bhattar, Chrompet as well as from his appa.

Into his 20s, he officially joined the temple after the early passing away of his appa. During the decade that he has been officially at the temple, he has had to survive on daily wages of Rs. 100 from the HR & CE and has not yet had an official appointment as the Chief Priest. He is hopeful that sometime in the near future, the current EO will help him get the appointment order for he is solely reliant on the temple to take care of his family including his ailing amma and his two school going sons.

Major Renovations and a Modern Look

The temple itself which was managed by private trustees was taken over by the HR & CE just over half a century ago.  In recent decades, there has a dramatic turnaround in the physical infrastructure of the temple. There is a new modern look with construction of new Sannidhis and a new 5 Tier Rajagopuram but as with many temples in TN, the archakas have not been taken care of financially. 

A private trust  set up decades ago has been managing the utsavams including the Thai Brahmotsavam over the last three decades but even they have not allocated a sum for the archaka as Sambhavanai and he is left to manage with the daily wage. New Sannidhis have been  added in the last few decades. For a centuries old temple, this has not attracted the attention of the devotees in the city. There are only a few devotees on weekdays with Saturday being the only day in the week when the locals visit the temple.

Grand Rama Navami Utsavam 

Historically Rama Navami utsavam in Panguni has been the grandest in the year with one community (Pillai, Reddy, Nair, Brahmin…..) taking care of the Ubayam on each of the days of the utsavam. On the Rama Navami day, Hanuman carries Rama on a street procession while the 10th day of the utsavam sees the Rama Pattabhisekam celebrations.  Moolavar Rama is seen in a South facing Pattabhisekam Posture. 

Service to Rama- His only way of life

For Ananthakrishnan Bhattar, service to Kothandaramar has been his only way of life. Unmindful of the daily wages, he continues to serve the Lord with devotion and hopes that Pattabhiseka Ramar will one day turn the financial fortunes for him. He is also keen for one of his sons to take up the temple kainkaryam to continue the hereditary service. His grandfather Parthasarathy Bhattar who had served during a financially challenging period pre and post World War II, went out to perform Purohitam service and with that income bought pooja items for Ramar and performed service. Such has been the devotional service of this family. 

Mannar Koil Acharya's Court case for a fair Salary

It is for priests like Ananthakrishnan Bhattar that Periya Nambi Narasimha Gopalan of Mannar Koil had filed a case, a few years ago, in the High Court for fair and reasonable wages to priests and service personnel in temples in Tamil Nadu at least as per the minimum wages act (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/04/mannar-koil-bhattar-priest-salary-case.html).  At Rs. 100 a day, it would be challenging for anyone to manage a household in a city given the rising costs.

It has been a three decades association for Ananthakrishnan Bhattar with Lord Kothandaramar having been with his appa right from his childhood. His unflinching faith is that the financial tide will turnaround sometime in life!!!

Festivals

Rama Navami in Panguni, Brahmotsavam in Thai and Garuda Sevai on Vaikasi Visakam. In addition, Aadi Pooram, Udayavar Utavam in Chitrai and Aani Thirumanjanam are celebrated in a grand manner.

The temple is open from 7am to 11.30am (Sat 12noon) and 5pm to 8pm (Sat 8.30pm). Contact: Ananthakrishnan Bhattar @ 93804 22205

Kaushik M Gandhi TN Opener TNPL Captain

August 12, 2022, 12:20 pm

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3 Palayampatti shields, a VAP Trophy and 3 TNPL wins has made 'Thatha' one of the most successful captains in recent times in TN cricket

Kaushik knows how to score runs and has it in him to succeed in all three formats for TN – Monty Desai, West Indian Batting Coach

“He is level headed, well-mannered and temperamentally very good. You get very few cricketers like him these days” – Bharath Reddy, Cricketing Chief, Jolly Rovers

TN Opening Batsman and TNPL’s most successful captain Kaushik M Gandhi hails from the Patriotic village of Gandhigram near Dindigul. His grandfather Padmanabhan lived a life on Gandhian principles and took great care of the villagers helping the downtrodden. It is a philosophy the 32 year old TN cricketer follows to this day helping those from his ancestral village. While the next generation (his father and his siblings) had moved to Madras, Kaushik was the first son in his generation to be born in Gandhigram and thus as was the tradition in the century gone by, his ancestral village came to be tagged on to his name. Much later, former South Zone fast bowler J Gokulakrishnan who first spotted the cricketing talent in Kaushik also gave him the ‘Thatha’ nickname that has come to stay with him over the last decade and a half. While Gokulakrishnan pulled him up with this nickname on one of Kaushik’s lazy cricketing sessions at the nets, it (Thatha) went well as it coincided with his actual name (Gandhi)!!!

Spotted by Gokul, Mentored by Madan

He was just 15 when Gokulakrishnan referred Kaushik to his brother JR Madanagopal, former South Zone batsman and now ICC umpire, to shape the teenager, who at that time was primarily an off spinner. 

             Former TN bowling coach spotted Kaushik's cricketing potential

By this time, there had been a number of developments on his personal front. Family circumstances had led him to the residential school in La Chatelaine in Valsarvakkam when he was not yet into his teens. His amma, Bhama, now the CFO at Lalitha Jewellary, was keen for him to have a good academic life and La Chatelaine was renowned for taking good care of the Boarders. The school was not known for cricket and the young boy who had in his early St. Michaels (Adyar) days developed great interest in football was now back into that game. Thankfully (for the cricketing world), one of those boys who had been his summer camp mate at St Bedes saw him at the football practice and informed the PD about his cricketing skills. For a short period, he had tried his hand at fast bowling as the school was always short on players but he now got back to off spin. 

A Big Moment in School Cricket

The biggest highlight of those cricketing days at La Chatelaine was the school winning the TNCA tournament against all odds beating PSBB, Santhome and Chettinad on the way to the trophy with Kaushik coming up with an all-round performance. This delighted the school management and they provided every support that a cricketer would look for, till the time he completed his schooling.

This section had featured a story in 2018 on the school’s founder Ambi Rajagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/12/ambi-rajagopal-viveka-fine-arts.html) and his vision for the students. This engagement with Kaushik was another standout example of how they supported a promising youngster after getting to know of his cricketing interests. 

Kaushik was an integral part of the state team in junior cricket and was at the NCA and Spin Foundation camps as well. The school management dropped and picked him up in their Bolero car every time he had a big cricketing assignment. The school’s support is something Kaushik is grateful to this day.

The Formative Years at Grand Slam

Madanagopal is just back from a hectic fortnight anchoring a national camp for BCCI umpires ahead of the new first class season. He has been Kaushik’s mentor over the last 15+years and recalls his early days with Kaushik when he was an off spinner “He was playing 5th division cricket and then moved into 3rd division. While he was a promising off spinner, what stood out for me in him was his attitude. I found he was ‘Coachable’.”

Madan’s association with Kaushik coincided with him taking charge of Grand Slam CC in the first division. He had retired as a first class cricketer and had become an umpire along with his close friend former Kerala Ranji leggie KN Ananthapadmanabhan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/ananthapadmanabhan-kn.html). In the first season that he was handed the captaincy of Grand Slam, the team just about managed to stave off relegation. From 3rd division cricket, Madan handpicked him for Grand Slam as an off spinner and middle order bat “Kaushik was still at school and it may have been a little early, but I was confident that he had it in him to adapt to first division cricket.”

This was one of the many bold calls Madan took with Kaushik in that phase. “He got only limited chances in those first two years but in the opportunities he got he gave glimpses of his abilities. His first wicket was the prized one of S Ramesh. And then in a knock out match he got the crucial wicket of M Vijay batting in his 90s.”

From being almost relegated, Grand Slam won the Palayampatti shield in the 2nd year under Madanagopal with a team comprising of upcoming youngsters. It was an underrated team and not many took them seriously. At the start of the season, it would have inconceivable for the team to beat any of the top teams in the first division but they surprised every opposition beating the fancied ‘Big Brother’ Vijay CC twice that season and then beating Jolly Rovers in the final. 

In this phase, Mentor Madan picked Kaushik from his home on the morning of the match and the two of them went together to the ground discussing cricket on the way. “While he got crucial wickets and provided us important breakthroughs with the ball, he contributed well with the bat as well especially in partnership with Sriram Krishnamurthy in the middle order. I found that he was unfazed and showed good temperament with the bat. When the team needed him to score a few runs, he always ‘showed up’.”

It was a period when his appa, Mohan, a cricketer at Port Trust and an Umpire, passed away. But by this time he had built great mental strength and he did not allow the loss to impact him negatively.

Into the third year for Grand Slam, Kaushik played two gritty knocks in the season opener against Jolly Rovers on a green top. “We were shot out for 100 on day 1 but his body language at the crease was a standout feature for me” recalls Madanagopal of Kaushik’s determined stints at the wicket on a difficult pitch.

A Perfect Team Man

Sriram Krishnamurthy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/06/sriram-krishnamurthy-high-performance.html), who forged many a crucial partnership with Kaushik during the time at Grand Slam, is the High Performance Batting Coach at NZC and the coach of Northern Districts, a side that includes international cricketers such as Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, among others.  He has also been instrumental in shaping the batting of Kiwi batting sensation Devon Conway. He was here last month coaching the Madurai Panthers to the knock out stage before he had to leave ahead of the crucial match to take over his cricketing duties in New Zealand. 

Talking to this writer from Christchurch in New Zealand where he is coaching the NZ U19s, Sriram recalls his memories of Kaushik Gandhi from the time the two played together for Grand Slam “Kaushik is a very confident and assured person. When we played together for Grand Slam in the 2007-08 first division season, in what was his 1st season in first division, 2 things stood out for me - that he was a confident person, not with his cricketing skills per se, but in life, and about how good a team player he was. He was always helping his fellow team players at practice even if he wasn't playing."

"While he may have only been 16 years then, he didn't shy away or refrain from having a laugh and chat with the older players. His personality won over many of us in the team that season and it is no surprise to see him being successful as a captain in the TNPL. He has a way around people and given his attitude towards his team being successful rather than his own individual performances, he has the ingredients to be a strong leader.”

Offie becomes an Opener 

In the fourth season, the transfer of a majority of the team members to India Cements’ top team Vijay CC opened up unexpected opportunities for Kaushik Gandhi. “I contemplated for a number of days on the composition of the team for the new season and finally decided to get Kaushik into the opener’s role. Throughout that summer, I got him to face the new ball at the nets and made him leave as many balls as possible. Also, we discussed ways and means to tackle specific new ball bowlers in the opposition one of which was the handling of Jesuraj’s bouncers.”

Photo taken by this writer over a decade ago of Madan coaching Kaushik at Viveka - the year the youngster turned from an offie to an opener

“While it was fine for me to talk about the facets of top order batting, he simply grasped every single input and practiced long hours at the nets that then translated into performance on the field” says Madan of Kaushik’s ability to grasp the finer points of batting.

From batting No. 7/8 until that point in his career, he made the big transformation into an opener against the best in first division cricket. 

Career Changing Knock

Just over a decade ago, Grand Slam turned up for the new season with a side that was unrecognizable for the year gone by. The other clubs once again did not make much of them is the same way that they had 2 years earlier. And when Jolly Rovers scored 400 plus in the season opener, the writing seemed to be on the wall for this young team “He instantly repaid the faith I had in him with a big 100 that helped us take the lead with just two wickets down. It had rarely been done in the past against Jolly Rovers. Kaushik came of age as an opener with that knock.” 

Madan says that a lot of his qualities came out in the open during that knock – levels of concentration, ability to build a long innings, discipline in batting, work ethic and hard work. 

Later that season in the semifinal, mentor and mentee came together at the batting crease and put together a big partnership with Kaushik scoring a double century and Madan a hundred against MRF. 

Amma - A Pillar of Strength

His amma has been a pillar of strength all through his teenage years and was keen for him to focus on academics. It had been her inspiration that had led him to a strong performance in Class X and XII exams at La Chatelaine “I completed my MBA and also tried my hand at ACS but by then I had made up my mind that I would be full time into cricket.”

Kaushik lauds his amma for her independent outlook to life "I am financially well off now that she can lead a happy retired life at home but she insists on continuing to work and playing a key role as a CFO. And like a loving grand mother, she always surprises us with gifts for my kids."

The Ranji Call

It was a big moment for him when he received the Ranji call. In his second Ranji game, he scored 80 against MP but did not play a single game in the next couple of years. This section had long ago questioned the non selection under the chairmanship of B. Kalyanasundaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/01/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram-selector-match.html). 

Best Phase in Cricket

2016-17 was a big year for him in cricket scoring close to 800runs including a double hundred against Jaspit Bumrah and 150+ knocks against MP and Punjab. Interestingly, he played in all the one day games that season for TN, scored a century and was second only to Dinesh Karthik in the aggregate anf followed that up with another good one day performance the next year. The Ranji performances that season earned him a Duleep Trophy debut at the start of the next season in September 2017 where in the only match that he played he scored 39 in a rain affected game. He has not played another Zonal game since!!

"After the success that season, I had the belief that I could go on to play 60-70 Ranji games for TN and end up with a batting average in the mid 40s."

TNPL Success under Gokul and Madan

This phase was also transformational for Kaushik in another way. Till then, most had seen him as a long format player who had the ability to grind his way in a multi-day format. Just ahead of the TNPL, he bagged the Player of the Tourney award in the T20 tournament organized by the TNCA where he scored two 90s. This section featured a story in September 2016 as to how Kaushik Gandhi was Madan's first pick in the TNPL (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/tnpl-gokulakrishnan-madanagopal.html). He counts as his blessing Madan being the coach in that first year in TNPL for he could easily relate to the T20 with his mentor around “Madan gave me the blueprint of how I should play in T20 cricket.”

Monty Desai’s TNPL mentoring

Monty Desai now the batting coach of West Indies was closely involved with Kaushik Gandhi in the first two years of the TNPL as the Mentor of Tuti Patriots. He was kind enough to take time off hours after West Indies’ defeat against the Kiwis in the first T20 to talk to this writer sporting the colourful maroon West Indian shirt from Kingston, Jamaica about his experience with Kaushik Gandhi in those two years “He was a touch player who timed the ball well. His biggest plus was that he absorbed info well in the right way, processed it carefully and applied it in the match."

It was Monty Desai who along with Gokulakrishnan and Madanagopal who identified a role and created boundary options for Kaushik in T20 cricket “He was clear in his mind, his skill execution was excellent and was always ‘situationally’ aware. He was ‘Perfection Personified’ for us in those two years.”

When Monty pushed him into a crucial role at the top of the order after a discussion with the leadership team that included Dinesh Karthik, Kaushik answered with a T20 century.  “He has got options for strokes and a good defensive technique. More importantly, he knows how to score runs. He brought into play at the batting crease all the pre match discussions we had with him. I think he has it in him to score big in all three formats of the game for TN.”

“He is also a captaincy material for he keeps his emotions well under control and looks at achieving the goals by being task oriented” says Monty. 

By this time, he joined Income Tax where unlike many other cricketers, Kaushik works whenever he is away from cricket and has already picked up a promotion after writing an exam "The effort that I had put for ACS inter helped me clear this exam easily as I had already read some of the subjects during my ACS preparation."

Watching The Reds and Cricket Captaincy

He has been a Man U fan from his childhood days and their performance in recent years has left him a bit sad. While like most of the diehard followers, he remains committed to the Manchester Club and hopes that the good old glory days will be back soon, he takes a lot of learning from each of these matches especially on the tactical front and on how players should be managed. He says that watching Man Utd’s matches has been a big learning for him on the captaincy front. He also spends time playing indoor football whenever he is free with his old mates from St. Michaels.

Level Headed and Well Mannered

After 9 years at Grand Slam, Kaushik moved to Jolly Rovers six years ago and has led them to three first division titles and a VAP tourney victory. Bharath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) of his team captain “He is level headed, well-mannered and temperamentally very good. You get very few cricketers like that these days. He is in the same mould as Madanagopal. He always puts the team interest first and takes great care of his teammates.”

Gokulakrishnan, who spotted Kaushik when he was in his early teens, echoes Bharath Reddy’s sentiments “He is a smart, hardworking and honest cricketer. Most importantly, he is a very good human being.”

”Though he is 30+, if he manages to score 1000 runs in the upcoming Ranji season in a tough group for TN, he could still make it to the top in Indian cricket. He is a good long version player and will be an asset to the TN team” says Bharath Reddy of the immediate prospects for Kaushik.

What's in store in cricket?

From starting off as an off-spinner who chipped in with crucial runs down the order, Kaushik Gandhi has come a long way and established himself as a solid opener. It has not been easy at the state level where he has not always got a consistent run in, especially in the initial years. Out of his 30 odd games for TN spread over a decade, almost a third have come in a single season (16-17).But like his mentor Madanagopal(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html?m=1) who too did not get the rub of the green in the 1990s despite a strong performance for the state, Kaushik is all too clear of his role in cricket. As a batsman, his focus is on scoring as many runs as possible to give himself the best chance for state selection. As a captain, he has always looked to get the best out of every single team mate of his and found joy in helping others succeed. He has the best captaincy record in the TNPL with three trophies under his belt. Like Madan, he too is liked by one and all in the cricketing circle for he genuinely cares for his fellow cricketers.

He has not yet made his debut for TN in the T20 format. His captaincy success in the TNPL should make him a contender for the captaincy role not just in T20 but in other formats as well for TN. With talks in TN cricketing circles on winning trophies, Kaushik has a proven track record to match the best in the business here in terms of victories as a captain. He still cherishes the dream of playing over a half a century of Ranji matches for the state. He has the appetite for scoring big runs in multi day games and has developed the strokes to succeed in white ball cricket. One will have to wait and watch as to how the new season unfolds for him. 

At a later point in life, it is likely that he will take to Umpiring like his appa, Mohan, and mentor Madan.

Thiru Kannangudi Prabhu Bhattar

August 14, 2022, 12:46 am

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After a dozen years at the Thiru Mangai Azhvaar praised Divya Desam, the priest gets a daily wage of Rs. 100

Earlier he performed archaka service at Nathan Koil for a decade

It is hoped that relief to such low paid priests will come through the HC 'minimum wages' case filed by Mannar Koil's Periya Nambi Narasimha Gopalan

                            Prabhu Bhattar

This is yet another case of a Divya Desam bhattar not getting his financial due. 43 year old N Prabhakaran (Prabhu) Bhattar was roped into the Thiru Mangai praised Damodara Narayana Perumal Divya Desam in Thiru Kannangudi, located about 8kms West of Nagapattinam, off the Thiruvarur Highway, a dozen years ago. There are no buses to this Divya Desam even today.

வங்கமா முந்நீர் வரிநிறப் பெரிய வாளரவின் ஆணை மேவி 

சங்கமார் அங்கை தடமலர் உந்திச், சாம மா மேனி என் தலைவன் 

அங்கமாறு அந்தவேள்வி நால்வேதம் அருங்கலை  பயின்று 

ஏரி  மூன்றும், செங்கையால் வளர்க்கும் துலக்கமில் மனதோர் 

திரு கண்ணங்குடியில் நின்றானே

Thiru Kannangudi was without an archaka at that time. Having performed service for over a decade at Nandipura Vinnagaram, at Nathan Koil, another remote Divya Desam earlier, he agreed and moved to Thiru Kannangudi at a monthly salary of Rs. 600. It had been a dilapidated temple at that time. Roads leading to the temple were muddy. It was no different from the scenario at Nathan Koil. Devotees were limited. There was not much Thattu Kaasu for the archaka. In both the temples, he was the sole archaka taking care of all the sannidhis. 

Revival of Utsavams

In the period he was at Nandipura Vinnagaram, he performed a Samprokshanam. Here too at Thiru Kannangudi, he anchored a Samprokshanam three years ago that saw a dilapidated Ramanuja Sannidhi and the Madapalli seeing a revival. The Brahmotsavam too has been revived over the last decade. The utsava deity now makes an annual trip to the sea shore on the occasion of Maasi Magam.

Forefathers in archaka service

Prabhu Bhattar’s forefathers hailed from Nandivanam, east of Nathan Koil. They performed archaka service at the perumal temples in Nandivanam, Nandipura Vinnagaram Divya Desam and also at Tippirajapuram. His grandfather Seshadri Bhattar performed service for decades at the feet of Nandinatha Perumal and Shenbagavalli Thayar at Nandivanam. Into the second half of the previous century, when his appa Neelamegham Bhattar was performing service at Govindaraja Perumal Sannidhi in Chidambaram, he was roped in by Pachu Bhattar of Nachiyar Koil Divya Desam to perform service for 10 days every month.

Appa Neela Megha Bhattar, Nachiyar Koil

Decade long serice at Nathan Koil

Prabhu Bhattar spent his childhood in Nachiyar Koil. He had been devotionally attached right from his school days and spent a lot of his time helping his appa in service at Nachiyar Koil. He learned the pooja kramam from his thatha and joined service at the Vanamamalai administered Nathan Koil Divya Desam when he was still in his teens. There too the temple had been without an archaka and  he took charge at Nandipuram Vinnagaramin the late 1990s. He enjoyed his stay there though devotees were quite limited in those days. In 2005, he anchored the Samprokshanam at the Divya Desam. Financially, his life continued to be challenging as there was neither a good salary nor thattu kaasu to keep his life stable.

Kannangudi - His 2nd remote Divya Desam service

For three years, he came over to Madras to perform service at the Anjaneya temple in Nanganallur but soon made his way back to another remote Divya Desam after being invited to perform service at Thiru Kannangudi, one of the Pancha Krishna Kshetrams where Moolavar Loganathan is seen in an East facing standing posture. There is a separate sannidhi for Loganayaki Thayar. The Lord of Thiru Kannangudi has been praised in each of the verses by Thiru Mangai Azhvaar in his Periya Thirumozhi as one who is seen in a grand standing posture. 

                            Loganayaki Thayar

Thiru Mangai Azhvaar's praise

He describes Thiru Kannangudi as a place with huge mansions with walls that were so high that they seemed to touch the moon. He praises the temple as being surrounded with ripe paddy fields, water tanks that were filled with different kinds of lilies, lotuses and many varieties of flowers and lush orchards that produced fruits such as bananas, jack fruits and mangoes among others. He also describes the place as being home to peacocks that flocked in big numbers and danced around the Lord. 

Unlike in other Divya Desams where Garuda is seen with folded hands, he is seen here with his hands around his body.

                                 Garuda in special posture

Dilapidated State to Complete Restoration

In the period he has been at Thiru Kannangudi, he has captured the hearts of the villagers as a devotionally committed Bhattar. He is the lone Bhattar at the temple managing all the sannidhis and the utsavams. Broken Walls, Falling Azhvaar idols, Shattered Vimana and Rats inside the Madapalli symbolized the state of the temple soon after he had taken over at the start of the previous decade but has transformed the temple over the last decade. With support from devotee donors, the Ramanuja Sannidhi that had been in dilapidated state has been restored as has been the Madapalli that was falling off in the not too distant past. 

He has also managed to secure Abaranams for Perumal and Thayar. Currently, he is working on a special Horse Vahanam for the annual Brahmotsavam that too has been revived during the time he has been here.

However, for all his services, he still does not have a permanent job and is only handed ‘daily wages’ of just Rs. 100. But he has rarely complained “God has given me an opportunity to perform service in a Divya Desam. The villagers respect me for my service to Damodara Narayana Perumal. I have had the opportunity to perform consecration in two remote Divya Desams. While financial stability is required in life, not many get an opportunity to serve at the feet of Divya Desam Lord through a life time. I have spent over half of my life time in two Divya Desams praised by Thiru Mangai Azhvaar. And that I consider as a blessing.”

Since the Pandemic, life has not yet come to normal at the temple, in terms of devotee crowd. As is the case with most HR & CE administered temples, the lack of income at the temple (Hundi income) has meant a low salary to the archakas. Prabhu Bhattar has felt comfortable in a remote location performing quiet and sincere service to the Divya Desam Lord.  He is hopeful that God would bless him one day, financially, and get him the permanent job from the HR & CE. 

In recent times, Periya Nambi PS Narasimha Gopalan of Mannar Koil Kulasekara Azhvaar Rajagopalaswamy temple (Transforming Mannar Koil) has filed a contempt petition in the High Court against the HR & CE for not implementing the court's direction to paying a reasonable and fair salary to the service personnel in temples at least in line with the amount prescribed in the Minimum Wages Act. This could provide a lifeline for priests such as Prabhu Bhattar. One will have to wait and watch. 

Irrespective of the job status, he is devotionally committed to perform a lifetime of service to Damadora Narayana Perumal at Thiru Kannangudi Divya Desam.

The temple is open from 8am-12noon and 4.30pm– 9pm. Contact Prabhu Bhattar  @ 99431 38591 / 99408 11701.

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Thiru Vellarai 7 Tier Raja Gopuram Construction

August 14, 2022, 11:44 pm

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Joy for Pundarikakshan Devotees

Renovation Committee has given the approval for the Construction of the New Raja Gopuram

Construction likely to start soon , expected to take two years

The Towers at the main entry point of two prominent and ancient Divya Desams near Trichy had been left as Mottai Gopuram and remained as such till the 1980s when a decision was taken to construct a Raja Gopuram at the Southern entrance to the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, that now stands tall at 236 feet. The other one, the Pundarikakshan temple at Thiruvellarai Divya Desam (Vellarai Divya Desam), the birth place of Uyyakondan and Engal Azhvaan, dates back to a period when 3700 Vaishnavite families lived in the town. The Raja Gopuram at the Northern entrance thereto had remained unfinished. 

Last decade, the then CM of Tamil Nadu (Late J. Jayalalitha) had announced in the assembly plans to construct a Raja Gopuram at Thiruvellarai.  Some of the ground work had started at the Divya Desam but the Madras High Court order restraining renovation in temples meant the work came to a grinding halt over 5 years ago. Subsequently, with the High Court directing the appointment of a Panel to decide on the merits of renovation in temples, the Raja Gopuram work in Thiru Vellarai praised by Periyazhvaar and Thirumangai Azhvaar seemed to get a life line with the Panel issuing an order to strengthen the existing structure at the Northern Entrance based on the technical reports.

இந்திரனோடு பிரமன் ஈசன் இமையவர் எல்லாம்

மந்திர மா மலர் கொண்டு

மறைந்து உவராய் வந்து நின்றார்

சந்திரன் மாளிகை சேரும் சதுரர்கள் வெள்ளரை நின்றாய்

அந்தியம் போது இது ஆகும்

அழகனே காபிட வாராய் - Periyaazhvaar's Kaapidal

Northern Entrance shut, Eastern Entrance Opened

The Northern entrance which has for long been the preferred entrance to the temple has been long closed and the eastern side of the temple had been completely revamped and the entrance there reopened after several decades. 

After the strengthening works of the existing structure, the donors from Coimbatore applied to the renovation committee and have just got the approval to go ahead with the construction of the Raja Gopuram. The construction of the 'Lime Mortar' Raja Gopuram is expected to commence soon and the plan is to complete the 7 Tier, 125 feet plus towering structure in around two years.

It has been a long time coming at Thiru Vellarai and the approval process has seen several hurdles in the last 6-7 years. With the approval this month, it looks like finally the Raja Gopuram will be on its way. When complete, the Raja Gopuram will rank amongst the top five tallest towers in the Divya Desam list and thus in a matter of three decades Mottai Gopurams in two ancient temple towns near Trichy would have seen towering Raja Gopurams!!!

வென்றி மா மழுவேந்தி முன்மண்மிசை மன்னரை 

மூவேழுகால் கொன்ற தேவ 

நின் குரைகழல் தொழுவதோர் வகை, எனக்கருள் புரியே 

மன்றில் மாம் பொழில் நுழை தந்து, மல்லிகை மௌவலின் போதலர்த்தி 

தென்றல் மா மனம் கமழ் தரவரு, திருவெள்ளறை நின்றானே - Thiru Magai Azhvaar

Every year on the third day of the Panguni Utsavam the Lord makes a trip to Kollidam.

The temple is open from 730am-1pm and 3.30pm- 7.30pm  Contact: Achuthan Bhattar @ 95978 57231 /Vinodh Bhattar @ 98941 42111

Auto from Srirangam: 97917 56869/ 92624 05704.

Renovation Exercise in Anbil Divya Desam

About 25kms East of Thiru Vellarai, TVS' Venu Srinivasan, who had restored the Ranganathasawmy temple in Srirangam(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/11/venu-srinivasan-srirangam-temple.html), is undertaking a renovation exercise at Anbil Vadivazhagiya Nambi Divya Desam on the Northern banks of Kollidam.

Arunachalam R Kapali Devotee Vedic Student

August 16, 2022, 2:04 am

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The 22year old is committing to a lifetime of Kainkaryam to Kapaleeswarar

Amidst the city buzz, he has managed to keep his thoughts solely on the Divine Couple of Mylapore

Has been travelling to remote Paadal Petra Sthalams to perform cleaning services as directed by Appar

In the last two years, this section had featured stories on two die hard devotees of Kapaleeswarar. Mylaporean from childhood S Harini Yogalakshmi, came all the way from Salem with her husband to have darshan of Adikaara Nandi procession (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/kapali-panguni-utsavam.html) while S Aparna stayed through the night in March this year to have darshan of the Rishabha Vahana procession (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/03/kapali-devotee-aparna-panguni-utsavam.html). This story is of a 22 year Vedic Student who is keen on dedicating his entire life to Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal.

Arunachalam, son of Ramakrishnan Ganapadigal of Mylapore, is no ordinary kid. He belongs to the 9th generation of Vedic Scholars who hailed from Kadavasal, a small village near Mayiladuthurai. At the turn of the century, the time he was born, a generation of Vedic Scholors had seen financially challenging times. The phase from the 1970s had sounded death knell for Vedic Pandits and a lot from the next gen moved into the corporate world. In addition to the financial challenges, the societal challenges of having a Shikai, seen in a Veshti all the time, not wearing a shirt on most occasions led them to take to a degree in academics and moving into the corporate world. He recalls the childhood stories his appa had narrated to him"Veda Parayanam had taken a back seat in the 80s and it had been a financial struggle for appa. There were days when there was no proper food to consume but he did not let go of the Vedic Recital despite the monetary challenges. And that has always been an inspiration for me." 

But Arunachalam grew up at the feet of Kapaleeswarar and he has had no inkling for the modern way of life. “I have found contentment in being at temples all the time. I see myself as being in Kapaleeswrar’s shadow. By not ‘being outside’, I do not feel that I am missing something in life.”

He was keen to quit academics when he was around 10 but Bala Periyava and Krishnapremi Anna were insistent on him continuing the school education for a few more years and thus he continued till class X at Sivaswami Kalalaya.

To soon Graduate as a Ganapadigal 

For the last seven years, he has been learning the Krishna Yajur Veda and is currently in the final phase of completion being initiated by his appa. While those who grew up around him in Mylapore have completed their collegiate education and moved into corporate life, Arunachalam sports a prominent Shikai. He says he performs the Trikaala Sandhyavandhanam every day and rarely misses the Artha Jaama Pooja at the Kapaleeswarar temple where he performs Kainkaryam.

Watching the fast paced life around him has not lured him into the modern world of financial desires “My thoughts have centered on Kapaleeswarar and I want to perform a lifetime of service to him. Another temple of interest to me is the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram where too I want to present parayanam.”

In recent years, his association with temples has taken another positive turn. Just like Thirunavukkarasar (Appar) - https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/12/thiru-vathigai-veerateswarar.html, Arunachalam has been performing cleaning services in remote Paadal Petra Sthalams led by Pasupathi, a CA. 

Alankaram for Velleesawarar

Right from a young age, decorating the Lord has been of interest to him. This year both at the Aadi Pooram utsavam as well as the Vasantha Utsavam, he was involved in alankaram kainkaryam at the Velleeswarar temple in Mylapore. 

He also has a lofty traditional wish “In my lifetime, I want to teach and help students graduate as the best in Krishna Yajur Veda.”

CSK CEO Daughter Ashwini Viswanathan Dancer

August 16, 2022, 5:53 am

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With a firm NO to any cricketing association, Ashwini has pursued her Dance Passion and performed across the globe

Last week, the daughter of 'Kasi Sir' donned the coveted  role of 'Karpagambal' in the Panguni Utsavam dance feature

In the 1990s, India Cements was making a comeback into league cricket in Madras and Kallidaikuruchi S Viswanathan (Kasi Sir in cricketing circles) was assigned by the company chief N Srinivasan to anchor the cricket transformation as the Cricket Manager. He had been in the accounts division until then but he was handpicked to play the lead role in making India Cements a top notch team once again. It was also the time his younger daughter Ashwini was growing up as a teenager. India Cement’s first wins on their return coincided with Ashwini’s coming of age in dance with her arangetram presentation at the age of 14. Through the 1990s, KSV’s house in Mylapore was abuzz with India Cements' cricketers and almost all the talks centered on cricket and getting IC to win trophies. While Ashwini made a lot of cricketer friends in that phase and watched a number of matches at Chepauk with them, her passion right from childhood was dance. She was still in her teens when she watched Tendulkar score that century at Chepauk in India’s narrow loss to Pakistan. 

No Cricket, sticks to Dance Passion

By the turn of the century India Cements had made a big impact on the club scene in the city and also started to win national tournaments. They began to make big investments in cricket and this threw up opportunities for cricketers and working professionals. When IPL was launched they picked up a team and have been one of the two most successful ones with KSV as the CEO picking players at the auction. All the cricketing glamour at home was not enough to lure Ashwini away from her childhood passion that has remained with her for close to four decades.  She has had absolutely no association with cricket except as a spectator. “Appa did not force me into cricket and allowed me to pursue my childhood dream that of expressing myself through this art form. Despite his busy schedule, he always made time to attend all my dance programmes and that served as a great encouragement for me. That gave me the confidence that I had his backing.”

The Big Break as a youngster

She was just past 20 when her Guru Jayanthi Subramaniam deemed it fit for her to make a trip to the US to present dance performances across multiple cities there. She counts that early exposure in front of large audiences in the US as a great experience that has held her in good stead. That open the doors for her in her dancing career. It was her performance at the Thyagaraja Utsavam in Cleveland that grabbed the attention of Leela Samson, who invited her to join her troupe. It was a big break for Ashwini and it has been a roller coaster ride ever since. In the decade gone by, she has performed in Malaysia, China, South Africa and Australia, among other countries in addition to presenting programmes across India. 

She is puzzled at the overwhelming interest among the overseas audience and the rather tepid response in India to dance programmes. As seen in the stories on Nirupama Vaidyanathan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/05/nirupama-vaidyanathan.html) and TT Abhishek (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/abhishek-r-india-table-tennis-star.html), non-cricketing success do not get the attention they deserve in this country. And Ashwini has found that in her dancing career “This is an ancient Indian art practiced for over 1000s of years. While the auditorium is packed in overseas countries, the response here is rather disappointing. It has left me puzzled as to why even traditional dance presentations don’t attract a big audience here in this country.”

Awards from leading Sabhas

Her dance performances have won her many prestigious awards from the leading Sabhas in the city including Natya Chudar, Yuva Kala Barathi and Nadanamamani. She has also graduated to Grade A artiste at Doordarshan, reserved for senior professionals. These days Ashwini practices in the mornings and takes classes for her students in the evenings at her dance school in Mylapore.

Cricketing Association

Her closest association with cricket came when she joined hands with Sunithi, her classmate at school and wife of former India cricket S Badrinath to launch a designer Botique that the two have been running for a few years now. In recent years, she has also been the costume designer for actress Kasthuri in Big Boss. 

Solo Performance in all leading TN Temples

She has performed in all the leading temples in TN including Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam. Another favourite dance location of hers is the Jagannath temple in Puri, where she has performed a number of times.  She was ‘Shakuni’ in Mahabaratha and ‘Lakshmana’ in Ramayana.

Karpagambal at the Paguni Utsavam

Last week, she donned the role of Karpagambal for the first time in her life as she and her team members under Guru Jayanthi Subramaniam presented the Panguni Utsavam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/03/kapali-devotee-aparna-panguni-utsavam.html) “Playing the role of the Goddess of Mylapore was special. Every day of the Panguni Utsavam is different and to present that through a dance feature was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

Ashwini credits her amma for her success in her dance career “She did not get the opportunity in her time though she was interested in arts. For almost four decades, she has stood by me and given me all the encouragement and been a pillar of strength in my dancing endeavours.”

Many in the next gen have followed in the footsteps of the parents. It is an easier path to take and many parents have talked their children into it. With Masters degrees in Economics, Accounting and International Finance from Australia, she could taken to a finance role that her cricket renowned father (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/02/ks-viswanathan-tnca-bcci-ipl.html) had once been into or with his cricket association and the opportunities opening up on the cricketing front at the beginning of this century, she could have made a career in cricket administration /marketing. Instead she stuck steadfast in her passion not wavering for a moment in the last three decades and has found great satisfaction in the several hundreds of dance presentations inside temples and at auditoriums. Now she is all set to use her dance presentations to create a positive impact on the society and is looking forward to presenting socially relevant programmes showcasing women’s rights, perils of caste system and importance of nature conservation, among other public interest causes.  

S Srinivasan TN Bombay Ranji SVPB SPIC

August 20, 2022, 12:41 am

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At 21, the Somasundaram ground bred YSCA Guru Product left for Bombay despite being in the TN Ranji reserves and took them by storm with two big hundreds in U22 tourney

'Just Cheena' came back to Madras, marketed himself with S Sriraman and scored a big hundred in his comeback match after injury

In his 2nd innings, he has created a great platform for his two daughters having dedicated his life to them as a single parent while at the same time becoming a successful real estate player

Less than an hour to the start of a TNPL match exactly same time last year, this writer received a surprise message that Vimal Khumar, son of my YMCA TSR and league teammate from the 1980s TN Ramachandran, was in the playing XI that evening’s game for the first time that season.  The message came to me from former Bombay and TN Ranji cricketer S Srinivasan. And how? The former SVPB cricketer marketed for the southpaw to be included in the playing XI with the management (S Badrinath) of Dindigul Dragons!!! Srinivasan called it the Bombay way of marketing a young talent. Interestingly it was not the first time he marketed a cricketer for he promoted his own self with none other than the legendary S Sriraman in 1983 when he was in his 20s!!! And similar to Vimal, Srinivasan too got picked for the TN Ranji side soon after his marketing exercise and he responded with a big century. He was also the one who as youngster in his early 20s took a big call in the 1970s to move to Bombay to give his cricket career a fillip though he had spent this entire formative years playing cricket at the Somasundaram ground in T Nagar and later for TN schools and the Madras University. Here’s the story.

Another YSCA Gurumurthy team product, Srinivasan spent his entire childhood at the Somasundaram Ground playing alongside the likes of TA Sekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-architect-behind-worlds-best.html) and leggie S Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/rbi-madhavan-leg-spinner.html). Even as a tennis ball player, he developed the big innings temperament and the penchant for big hundreds. Like most in that group, he began his league cricket for Guru’s team in the lower division and then moved up the ladder. Very early on his life, he had made up his mind that cricket was going to be his way of life for a long time “My appa was a self-made man and he wanted me to be one. He did not force academics on to me and gave me the freedom to take to cricket as a way of life. Cricket was my strength and I pursued that” he told this writer at the 3rd floor flat in RA Puram that is testimony to his creative abilities in the real estate space with sunlight beaming into his house all times in the day.

                 Guru's Rising Stars 

It was his big performances for RKM that earned him a place in the city schools team and then in the state schools under Bharath Reddy.

Cricket Politics but appa’s lifetime ‘Destiny’ message

It was then that he had the taste of cricket politics. He recounts his first sad moments in cricket “I scored 167 for TN schools but did not find a place in the South Zone XI replaced by the ‘Kerala Cricketing Clout’. I had performed exceptionally under Bharath Reddy and a good performance for SZ would have taken me to England with the Indian Schools team. It was not to be. It left me wondering for the first time in life as to what more I had to do to gain selection.”

"When my appa saw me sitting in a corner disappointed at the non selection, he gave me a message that has stood with through all the highs and lows in life and given me the strength to face life. Its all destiny he told me and accept everything in life as it comes."

Former TN middle order batsman PC Prakash(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/pc-prakash-tn-ranji-1980s.html), who played under Srinivasan for Vivekananda College, endorses this attitude of Srinivasan "We have had some great conversations about cricket. He has never been bitter about the past despite not fulfilling his batting potential at the Ranji level. He has accepted what life has given him."

"Though I missed out on the UK tour, Bharath Reddy was kind enough to get me a Gray Nicolls bat with which I scored a lot of runs" Srinivasan recalls of the gesture from his Schools captain.

The College Years - Prolific run getter 

He played four years for Vivekananda College and captained them to three trophies in a year. Former IOB opener Rocko M Sundar remembers Srinivasan from the Vivekananda college days“My earliest memory of Srinivasan is that of a 16 year old lad who joined Vivekananda College as a cricketer having represented TN State Schools. I distinctly remember his first innings for the college. He scored 24 runs and all of them were boundaries, authoritative square cuts in the mould of G.R. Viswanath. He was a dashing stroke maker then and only subsequently changed his approach & curbed his stroke play.”

Great Learner

Sundar was part of the Viveka College gang that met regularly at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore and recounts Srinivasan's learning abilities "Srinivasan would join us at the Nageswara Rao Park where we assembled every evening after the college. Often he sought advice from senior cricketers like P. K. Dharmalingam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/06/pk-dharmalingam.html), V Krishnaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html), Shivu & others. He was a keen learner, who put the knowledge gained to good use, which saw him scale to the Ranji level after his college days".

Prakash too recalls the favourite square off the wicket shots of Srinivasan "His ‘down on one knee square drive’ was a treat to watch. On the back of big success in schools cricket, he was a bit brash and over confident at that time. He had a hunger for runs and all of us looked up to him as a hero at college. He was stylish and technically very sound and a prolific run getter for the college and at the University level.”

The transformational Colts Tour

The tour to Bombay with the TN Colts was an eye opener for Srinivasan. While he struggled to graduate from the schools and university performances into first division scores on matting wickets, he struck gold on the turf wickets in Bombay against the best of bowlers and topped the aggregate impressing Annadurai, the manager on that tour. 

'Just' when he was set to play for TN, he took an unprecedented call to move to Bombay to pursue his cricketing dreams “Following my success during the Collegiate years and the form I showed in Bombay on the colts tour, I was confident that I had it in me to reach the top batting on the turf wickets."

Srinivasan says that by then Delhi opener Venkat Sundaram had already invited him to the capital suggesting that big runs for Delhi would fast track his growth with the presence of Bedi there but he had to reject that offer for he had no support plans in Delhi in terms of job and accommodation. His appa was working in Bombay and that made it easier for him to take the Bombay call as contrasted with the opportunity in Delhi.

                     TN State Schools

Destiny plays out again - positively this time

In the inter university final in Mysore, he had scored a double hundred that helped him get into the TN Ranji reserves. But here he was taking the call to let go TN and moving to an ‘unknown’ state to further his cricket career. “At that time, I dreamt big. It was a huge step for me but I believed that big runs in Bombay would offer a faster growth path in cricket.”

Takes Bombay by storm

The Bombaiites had been impressed with his Colts performances and his appa spoke to SBI’s India star Ajit Wadekar and Sharad Diwakar on the prospects for his son. The latter asked him to talk to Sunil Gavaskar. “It was co-incidental that ACC was looking for players and Gavaskar asked me to come to Bombay. I boarded the Bombay mail with one ‘Petty’ and went for the interview. I received my appointment letter as a clerk at a monthly salary of Rs. 350. The mandate was clear – to make big runs for ACC in every match.”

He was playing alongside Gavaskar for ACC!!! “Gavaskar taught me the importance of back lift and its variations on fast and slow pitches. Big hundreds was his message to me.”

Srinivasan and appa Sankaran with Legend Gavaskar

Srinivasan’s performance in the Kanga league on wet wickets and for Dadar Union under Vasu Paranjpe earned him a place in the Bombay U22 squad selected by legends Bapu Nadkarni, Vijay Manjrekar and Polly Umrigar – a terrific achievement for one who had just moved into the headquarters of cricket in India. He repaid their faith in no small means. In the three matches, he scored close to 350 runs including two back to back centuries and big ones at that (184 against Saurashtra and 140 against Gujarat). Following these knocks, he was compared to his idol GR Visvanath for his wristy strokes. He had taken Bombay by storm and made everyone sit up and watch him in awe.

National Camp along with Kapil and Kirti Azad

He was also picked in the  month long residential national camp at CCI conducted by Colonel Hemu Adikari alongside Kapil Dev, Kirti Azad, Shivlal Yadav Yograj Singh, Arshad Ayub and  Gopal Sharma, all of who went on to play for India.  A few months after the camp, Kapil went on the tour to Pakistan “The hidden dream right then was to play for the country.”

No Parochial Bias- Legend Manjrekar stands by him

The very next season, he was in the Bombay Ranji team alongside Ashok and Rahul Mankad, Eknath Solkar, Padmakar Shivalkar and Ghulam Parkar. Asked if there was the ‘outsider feeling’ in the team, he recalls the strong message from legendary Vijay Manjrekar “There had been questions about my selection leading to the Ranji season in 1978. They had already picked me for Bombay U22 and the selectors used that logic to silence the ‘political’ critics. Legend Vijay Manjrekar had a big heart and no parochial bias. Those with talent and performances found a place in his team. It was a great feeling to be in the Bombay dressing room at 22 and to bat at No. 4 in that line up.” 

Ranji Debut for Bombay

Srinivasan scored 21 in his only Ranji Trophy innings for Bombay in the season opener in November 1978. He knew that the big stars were coming back for the second match and his career in Bombay depended on that one innings against Baroda “Had I converted that start to a big hundred my cricketing life would have been different. Once again, as my appa has said all his life, it was all destiny.”

Unfortunately, with Gavaskar and Vengsarkar back from the Pakistan tour and available for the rest of the season, Srinivasan never got another chance to play and decided to return to Madras the next summer.

1979 - Back with a Bang in Madras

Srinivasan exploded in the first division league on the back of the confidence from his stint in Bombay. He began with a double century against RBI and was in rampant form in the league that led to his immediate selection in the TN Ranji team. After a short unbeaten knock innings in the season opener, he came up against a top notch Karnataka side. He knew a big innings against Chandra, Vijayakrishna and Bhat would have stabilized his presence in the TN Batting lineup. He had been struck with Madras Eye that week but was ready to bat. 'Just' when he was beginning to stroke the ball well, Chandra cleaned him up.

Chandra shatters his early TN dream

K Balaji (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-blossoming-cricket-career-was-cut.html) was in prime form in the 1970s before giving up serious cricket at 24. He went in to bat after Srinivasan’s dismissal in the Ranji match in Bangalore against Karnataka, one that this writer listened to every ball without a break on the radio (Kannada Commentary-https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/domesticindia-cricket-matches-1979-1983.html) and recalls the ripper from Chandra that ended Srinivasan’s 1979 season “The ball pitched outside leg and took the top of the off stump. It was an unplayable delivery.”

Srinivasan and Balaji had earlier played together for the Madras University.  Balaji remembers Srinivasan as a sincere and conscientious cricketer. “He took to his batting very seriously, was earnest in his approach and showed great application. His sincerity in approach was reinforced with the success he had in Bombay. It was a great achievement for a cricketer from Madras to take the step to go to Bombay at that young age and be accepted there at the top level. One had to have self-confidence and great belief in oneself to go to Bombay and compete with the best. He had that in great abundance in the 1970s.” 

Ranji Trophy winning captain and team mate for over a decade at SPIC, S Vasudevan echoes Balaji's sentiment"He was one of the most sincere cricketers of the time. Cheena was a solid middle order batsman and a very good fielder both close in and in the outfield."

Srinivasan says that the ball from Chandra shattered his confidence and it took time for him to recover “I was batting well with TE and playing Chandra confidently treating him like a medium pacer when he foxed me with that beauty. The ball just removed the off bail. It shattered me completely. Kirmani consoled me saying that it would have got the best in the world. You got very limited opportunities in those days and one had to make full use of them. I was destined to get that unplayable ball from Chandra that sent me packing for the rest of the season." 

Srinivasan was dropped after failing to convert the two starts in this match and did not play again that season. He did get a couple of chances the next year including in the Quarter Final against Haryana but failed to capitalise on the opportunities.

               SVPB Udumalpet

All Style -  Dress, Pads and his English

SVPB’s Soundararajan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html?m=1) was looking to build a strong club from Udumalpet and Srinivasan joined Peter Fernandez and NP Madhavan in the 1980s to present a formidable batting order for the districts club. 

SVPB opener for a couple of decades, S Sukumar, was one of the earliest to arrive in Udumalpet. He had joined them from Salem. He offers a different perspective of Srinivasan from the four years that he saw him closely at the club. "Having coming from Bombay, he had learned the art of playing in the 'V'. He also brought an 'outsider's' style into Coimbatore cricket. He was always stylishly dressed. Even his pads stood out from the rest and wore stylish ones. His English stood out among the team members. His constant use of 'Just' ended up in him being named as 'Just' Cheena."

A Knee Surgery and Dr. Zaman's Inspiration

He was injured while playing for SVPB at the American College in Madurai and underwent a knee surgery in 1981 that kept him out of cricket for a while.  He credits Dr. Zaman for his recovery and his entry back into the TN Ranji team “Dr Zaman from Australia (his daughter Peggy Zaman played tennis and was sportswoman of the year in the late 1980s) recommended me to Sundararajan who was into sports medicine. I was in clutches and had to do sand walking and use sand bags as a tool to get the knee strengthened.”

“Dr Zaman was an inspirational person and gave me the confidence that I can wear the baggy blue TN Cap again. He motivated me to get back into the TN side.”

Former Ranji opener UR Radhakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/03/ur-radhakrishnan.html) started his cricket career with SVPB in the early 1980s. His emergence as a young boy coincided with Srinivasan’s arrival at the Udumalpet club “He was a dedicated and a neat cricketer and showed me the way to play a big innings. He would never throw his wicket away. I learned a lot playing along with him in my early growing up years at SVPB.”

Memorable 175 N.O for Coimbatore

PR Ramakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/10/pr-ramakrishnan-coimbatore-cricketer.html) is now a renowned lawyer in Coimbatore. He had been in the TN Ranji squad for four years in the early 1970s but did not play a single match and returned to his home town to pursue his profession. He played for the Coimbatore Districts till the mid 1980s and recalls Srinivasan from that phase “To go to Bombay in the late 1970s and break into that team as a batsman was a phenomenal achievement. It was considered almost impossible for a batsman from Madras to do that. He brought that experience and confidence into Coimbatore and scored runs aplenty. While I was at the receiving end of many of his superb knocks for SVPB for he scored big against Ramakrishna Steels, I also batted together with him for Coimbatore Districts and was impressed with his technical soundness. He batted No.3 and I followed in at No. 4 and hence many a time we batted together and forged good partnerships. The big century against Salem in the SS Rajan final was a standout knock that I remember.”

Ramki, like most others in the cricketing circuit, has found him to be a good friend after the playing days “Off the field, he was a nice bloke to get on with and we have kept up our friendship over the last four decades. I am really happy that he has done well for himself in the real estate space.”

He is people friendly and always has a good word about his fellow cricketers from the 70s and 80s. 

Talks his way into the TN Ranji team

In the first game after the injury, he scored a century in the league. It was that big century (175 NO) in the SS Rajan Trophy final for Coimbatore against Salem that got him back into the reckoning but not before he had marketed himself with Sriraman “I had scored  big runs that season but didn’t get picked for the Gopalan Trophy match in Sri Lanka  in January 1983. I went to Sriraman and asked him as to what more I had to do to get picked for TN. A month later I was in the squad.”

With R Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html) getting injured in Sri Lanka against Rumesh Ratnayake, Srinivasan got picked and scored 148 in a double century stand with his SVPB team mate NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html)in the pre quarter final game against UP helping TN recover from a tricky situation. In the next match he scored a half century against Delhi in the 2nd inning in a big partnership with CS Suresh Kumar to help TN avoid outright defeat.

Best 12 months in cricket

At the start of the next season, he had a memorable century partnership with R Madhavan on that unplayable morning at Chinnaswamy Stadium against Karnataka in December 1983 to help TN recover from losing three wickets for three runs in the first few minutes on the first morning. Following his half century, he had a good outing against Andhra and then helped TN seal an outright victory against Hyderabad with an unbroken 70+ partnership with Jabbar when the team was stuttering in its 200 plus chase. In the big knock out game against Delhi, he scored another century though he failed in the crucial first innings. It had been a satisfying 12months for Srinivasan and it was to turn out to be the best phase for him in Ranji cricket having scored over 500runs since making a comeback in February 1983.

He was in and out the next year though he had an opportunity to shine against his former Ranji team Bombay when TN played them in the knock out. Unfortunately Srinivasan failed in both the innings and that signaled the end of his career with the next generation of batsmen making their way into the TN team.

It had been his dream to play club cricket in Australia and he received an invitation from Waverley CC (Tony Grieg and Geoff Boycott played for them) in the mid 1980s but once again destiny played its role and he could not get his visa through. Almost 35 years later, through Indian bowling coach B Arun, he managed to get a special ticket to watch India’s great win in Sydney, where he also met his old TN Schools mate ES Nataraj.

Cricket to success in Real Estate

At his peak in the second half of the 70s, Srinivasan had cherished the India dream like any young cricketer and his big scores for TN schools, Madras University, TN Colts and then his rapid rise in Bombay at the U22 level and his debut in the Ranji Trophy seemed to lead one to believe that he was in the right direction to reach the top of the cricketing ladder.  He did play a few crucial innings in the early 1980s, but faded away not fulfilling the potential he had.

After a decade at SPIC where he worked alongside S Vasudevan and PC Prakash, among other cricketers, he moved away from cricket into entrepreneurship in the real estate sector where he has carved a name for himself over the last two decades. He did a lot of the marketing ground work for the popular Venus Constructions in the late 1990s /early 2000s. Despite the loss of his wife at a young age, Srinivasan displayed great resolve, as a single parent, in bringing up his two daughters, Megha and Manmitha, who both went to the Singapore University. Over the last two decades, taking care of them  and making them independent in life has been his first job, says Srinivasan. “I am delighted that both of them are doing very well now in life.” And that is what is giving him the most joy at the moment.

Kapali Temple Panniru Thirumurai Naalvar Festival

August 21, 2022, 11:54 am

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The 12 day Panniru Thirumurai Utsavam concluded with a Yaanai Vahana Procession and a Grand Alankaram of Naalvar

Sundarar

Among all the Saivite temples in TN, Kapaleeswarar in Mylapore holds a special place. Some of the festivals are unique to it. There are not many paadal petra sthalams that promote the greatness of the Thirumurai verses as was seen at the Kapaleeswarar Temple this month. Over the last dozen days the Panniru Thirumurai festival, a one of its kind celebration of the famous four Saivite Saint Poets, took place at this historical temple.

பித்தா  பிறைசூடி பெரு மானே  அருளாளா

எத்தால் மற வாதே நினைக்கின்றேன் மனத்துன்னை

வைத்தாய்  பெண்ணைத் தென்பால் 

வெண்ணை நல்லூர் அருட்டுறையுள் 

அத்தா உனக் காளாய் இனி

அல்லேன் எனல் ஆமே- Sundarar

The birthday celebrations of these four great poets begins in Chitrai with Appar and goes on till Aadi Swathi when the birthday of Navalur's Sundarar is celebrated. For 12 days following Aadi Swathi with the 13th day ending on a Sunday, the Panniru Thirumurai festival is celebrated at the Kapali temple in Mylapore.

Asthana Othuvar of the temple Sathgurunathan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/12/othuvar-sargunathan-kapali-temple.html) brought in Thirumurai scholars from across TN to present the sacred verses between 5pm and 7pm followed by a 90minutes talk on the special features of these sacred verses of the Saivite Saint Poets over this 12 day period.

The Panniru Thirumurai series which began on the Pradosham evening with a Nagaswaram presentation by Mohan Dass, ended on Saturday evening with a big devotee crowd listening to the greatness of Thiru Gnana Sambandar who praised the utsavams at the Kapali temple during his times. In his verses, he  highlights every festival at the Kapali temple that took place over a 1000 years ago.

On the first Sunday (Aug 14) of the utsavam, the Othuvar also roped in three City based children aged below 15years to present the sacred verses of Sundarar from the seventh Thirumurai as a prelude to the evening’s main events.

One of the artistes, Jahnavi was all of 12 years and a class VII student of Sri Sankara School. While she has been learning Carnatic music for many years, she has developed an interest in the Thevaram verses and has been learning Thirumurai for the last two years. She is keen to learn the entire Thirumurai in the coming years. She has already been learning the stories behind each of these sacred verses.

Othuvar Sathgurunathan commended the young artistes for their devotional presentation. “The three young artistes exhibited great confidence and devotion in the way they presented Sundarar’s 7th Thirumurai. To present these sacred verses non stop for 60minutes at their age is great effort” he said.

There was a big  devotee crowd each evening of these 12 days to listen to some great messages of the Naalvar on the way of life that is relevant even today. 

This Sunday (August 21) morning following the completion of the 12 days of the Panniru Thirumurai festival, the legendary Thirumurai book was taken around the four Mada Streets atop the elephant similar to how Vaishnavite Saint Poet Periyazhvaar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/08/periyazhvar-thirumozhi.html) was taken on the top  of an elephant around the streets of Madurai all those centuries ago. 

On Sunday evening, on the only occasion in the year, the four Saint Poets decorated beautifully with colourful vastrams and a crown atop each of them were all set for a grand procession around the Mada Streets but an unexpected heavy downpour that lashed Mylapore led to the cancellation.

கூற்றாயின வாறு விளக்ககிலீர்

கொடுமை பல செய்தன நான் அறியேன்

ஏற்றாயடிகே இரவும் பகலும்

பிரியாது வணங்குவன் எப்பொழுதும்

தொற்றாதென் வயிற்றின் அகம்படியே

குடரோடு துடக்கி முடக்கியிட

அற்றேன் அடியேன் அதி கைக்கெடில

வீரட்டானத்துறை அம்மானே– Appar's First Thevaram Song

Jayakanthan Shivachariar, Hereditary Priest of the temple told this writer that the alankaram was in line with the lifestyle of each of the four Saint Poets “Sundarar was King like and we decorated him in a Raja Alankaram. Thiru Gnana Sambandar was all songs from childhood and he was seen with the Thaalam.  Appar dedicated his life to selfless service and was seen with Uzhavaaram and a Nandi sculpted on it and a Soolam on his hands following the Deekshai. Maanicka Vaachakar is very special and seen with a book.”

Devotees simply could not take their eyes of Achalpuram's Thiru Gnana Sambandar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/06/thiru-gnana-sambandar-mukthi-utsavam.html) seen with a majestic pathakkam on his chest. With colourful garlands around him and a crown that was hidden with the flowers atop his head, his beauty took the devotees by surprise. Jayakanthan Shivachariar was bombarded with questions from multiple devotees if Thiru Gnana Sambandar was Ambal!!!

And then the devotees' attention shifted to the vastram of Manikkavaachakar and the beautiful decoration. The Lord was so pleased with his songs that he himself agreed to write for Manikkavaachakar, which later became the famous verses of Thiruvachakam. Belief is that one who is not moved by the verses of Thiruvachakam cannot be a true devotee of Lord Shiva such is the devotion with which he has rendered.

At a far corner of the temple was regular Kapali devotee Raja, a student of Vilvam Anna Vasudevan reciting Thirumurai verses for over an hour even as he glanced from a distance at the Naalvar enjoying their alankaram. There were other devotees who had gathered to recite the Thirmurai during the procession but with the cancellation, their Sunday dream remained unfulfilled. 

Othuvar Sathgurunathan was devotionally excited all through the 12 days of the Utsavam. He was moved by the talks of the renowned Thirumurai scholars each of whom had decades of experience and rolled out verses one after another as they recalled  with tears of joy the greatness of these messages. he said that S Manivasagan, an entrepreneur from Chennai who is running the Thevaram Patshala in Chidambaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/02/thevaram-patshala-chidambaram.html) organised the Sambhavanai for the Thirumurai Scholars who came from different parts of the state. 

The sudden downpour in Mylapore that lasted three hours led to the cancellation of the street procession but 100s of devotees stayed back till well past 9pm to watch the handsome alankaram of the Naalvar. With several outstation devotees too visiting the temple on this Sunday evening, Jayakanthan Shivachariar had a busy evening explaining the greatness of these Saint Poets spreading their messages far and wide.

Such a grand celebration of the Panniru Thirumurai Utsavam at the Kapali temple brought to the city residents the greatness of the sacred verses and its messages that is otherwise likely to be forgotten in this fast paced world.